Rodney King dead

Would be a really bad time to find out the guy was armed after you got close to him wouldn't it?

Yes it would be bad, but it's a job with risks.

Um, I don't think anyone thought Rodney King was an angel or saint. He was a simple man with simple, average problems like most African Americans had, and was severely beaten for what? Trying to avoid police? You would too if you were black being followed by an all-white force of authority. And look what happens: he gets beat to a pulp, and the officers get off unscathed both physically and legally.

Barkley, you're really putting a guy whose worst crime was not wanting to be arrest on the same shelf as several authority figures who abused their power to severely beat a man, on the ground, with no weapon, four on one, with batons, over such a simple matter? That's just two different evils there and saying "he's no better than them" is being, well, ignorant. The cops went way past their boundaries to handling the situation.

And no body respects Rodney King as some kind of saint. They respect him because, despite being physically beaten and legally fucked, and seeing all the chaos in LA over the events, all he wanted was for the riots to stop, for people to settle down, and get along.

I mean, how pissed can you be at this guy?

(Issues we'd talk about online back in 1992.)

Sucks that he died so young. His death is a little suspicious, and the 911 call from his fiance is really awkward too, but I'll keep an ear open.

I'm pretty sure the concept of Law having limits was a translation error. -Wanderlustwarrior

Tasing isn't lethal if the target is healthy. If the target has heart issues, a pacemaker, overweight, pregnant, on drugs, old... anything other than healthy, there's a chance they'll die. Chance goes way up on a lot of things that officers can't even tell from looking at a person.

There's a reason Britain, the only country to actually do a study on taser safety, has said that they aren't safe.

edited 21st Jun '12 7:16:48 AM by shimaspawn

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick

He wasn't avoiding police because he was black and afraid of getting the shit beat out of him. He was avoiding the police because he was driving drunk while on parole for an armed robbery conviction. He wasn't running because he was afraid of being hurt, he was running because he knew getting caught meant prison again.

^

I don't see any reason to ever use a taser on those specific groups of people anyway, but I get your meaning. Honestly, using a taser on a proper healthy human being(from the outside anyway) carries such a miniscule chance of complications that I feel it's an acceptable risk.

You still cannot put that on the same level as the officers. That's like believing it's the same thing to actually kill someone as it is to say "Man, I really want to kill you right now."

I'm pretty sure the concept of Law having limits was a translation error. -Wanderlustwarrior

He did assault them first after repeatedly resisting arrest. That seems pretty comparable.

...

It isn't on the same level, but people act like the guy is some sort of hero for getting his ass kicked, and he ain't. He was still a bad apple, he didn't deserve to get his shit kicked in at the level that he did, but Rodney King was still a piece of shit.

I've never seen anyone make King out to be a hero. The tone usually taken when discussing him seems to be sympathy, actually. At least, from what I have observed.

"Can ye fathom the ocean, dark and deep, where the mighty waves and the grandeur sweep?"

The only time, like I said, anyone revers Rodney King as some kind of hero is his moment on television, having said, "Can we all get along?" You have to understand that in the midst of all this chaos, where the black community is exploding, riots are raving, and no one knows what's safe anymore, the guy that started this all shakily requests everyone "to get along." It takes a lot to get beaten, mistreated, see your attackers go off free, watch as the town crumbles beneath itself, and still just ask for people to calm down and let it go.

He's not a hero or saint. He's a simply guy thrown into a complex situation, and some people admire him for that, and you can't say it's wrong to admire someone like this. I personally don't, but you're really hating on this guy, for what? Don't hate Rodney King when you're annoyed by his alleged "worshipers" more than anything. The guy is dead and he never deserved to be spoken ill of like this.

I'm pretty sure the concept of Law having limits was a translation error. -Wanderlustwarrior

My take; Rodney King wasn't an angel or a piece of shit. He was just your average fuckup, who made bad decisions and got caught by police officers who made more of the same. The only reason he became famous is because someone happened to get what happened to him on tape. It was a time-and-place thing.

What made people so angry was the fact that he was not alone...a good many people had suffered similar indignities at the hands of the LAPD, the difference was no cameras were present. When the video was released (and the cops who did it found "not guilty"), all that pent-up anger was released. The result; riots, lootings, a cop-killing or two. After that there was some revamping of the system.

The Rodney King incident would not have had the impact that it did if his beating was an isolated occurrence...but it wasn't. People watched the video and said "hey, that happened to me/my brother/my friend too" and shit just broke. It happens.

@Barkey: you are totally correct; King deserved to be taken to jail for what he was doing. Drinking while on parole is a crime, to say nothing of fleeing the scene/resisting arrest. He was a screwup (hell, he had more trouble with the law after the '91 encounter) and he did milk the encounter for all it was worth. But own up to the fact that the LAPD was not behaving professionally at the time...not with him, and not with scores of other African-Americans who lived in Los Angeles. Not all police are like you, sir.

@Everyone Else: try to remember that the now-famous clip of several officers beating the ever-loving shit out of a prone man omits the part where King tries to attack said officers (after fleeing from them, a crime in itself)...the man was no saint. and the officers involved did have a reason to fear.

Anyhow...sometimes somebody makes history, and sometimes history makes a somebody. In King's case, I plead the latter.

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~

Back in the late Eighties and Nineties it wasn't just the white officers of the LAPD that were beating the shit out of black people. In the words of the lyrics from NWA's "Fuck Tha Police", released two years prior to the whole Rodney King thing:

"I don't know if they fags or what Search a nigga down and grabbin his nuts And on the other hand, without a gun they can't get none But don't let it be a black and a white one Cuz they slam ya down to the street top Black police showin out for the white cop"

Considering that NWA came from Compton and South Central L.A., were black, and were subject to the same shit as their peer group, I kinda take them at their word on this issue.

edited 23rd Jun '12 7:06:19 PM by TamH70

Heh, my step-dad is a black LAPD cop.

Most racist guy I've ever met. Against everyone.

Actually, he just hates everybody, not necessarily racist.

So... Sam Vimes? <innocently>

edited 24th Jun '12 8:56:26 AM by Euodiachloris

Not nearly as cool as Sam Vimes. Or as badass.

He does do a lot of good these days though, he's in a child crimes unit that specifically goes after pedophiles and child abusers.

Vimes would certainly approve that. Wholeheartedly.

Good drills.