Remembering The Police Beating Of Rodney King: 24 Years Later

On the evening of March 2, 1991, Rodney King and two of his friends sat in King’s wife’s car in Altadena, California, a city in Los Angeles County, and drank malt liquor for a number of hours. Then, with King driving, they left Altadena via a major freeway. King was intoxicated.

California Highway Patrol officers observed King’s car traveling at a speed they estimated to be in excess of 100 m.p. h. The officers followed King with red lights and sirens activated and ordered him by loudspeaker to pull over, but he continued to drive.

The Highway Patrol officers called on the radio for help. Units of the Los Angeles Police Department joined in the pursuit, one of them manned by petitioner Laurence Powell and his trainee, Timothy Wind.

King left the freeway, and after a chase of about eight miles, stopped at an entrance to a recreation area.

The officers ordered King and his two passengers to exit the car and to assume a felony prone position — that is, to lie on their stomachs with legs spread and arms behind their backs. King’s two friends complied. King, too, got out of the car but did not lie down.

Petitioner Stacey Koon arrived, at once followed by Ted Briseno and Roland Solano. All were officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, and as sergeant, Koon took charge.

The officers again ordered King to assume the felony prone position. King got on his hands and knees but did not lie down. Officers Powell, Wind, Briseno and Solano tried to force King down, but King resisted and became combative, so the officers retreated. Koon then fired taser darts (designed to stun a combative suspect) into King.

The events that occurred next were captured on videotape by a bystander.

As the videotape begins, it shows that King rose from the ground and charged toward Officer Powell.

Powell took a step and used his baton to strike King on the side of his head. King fell to the ground.

From the 18th to the 30th second on the videotape, King attempted to rise, but Powell and Wind each struck him with their batons to prevent him from doing so.

From the 35th to the 51st second, Powell administered repeated blows to King’s lower extremities; one of the blows fractured King’s leg. At the 55th second, Powell struck King on the chest, and King rolled over and lay prone.

At that point, the officers stepped back and observed King for about 10 seconds. Powell began to reach for his handcuffs. (At the sentencing phase, the District Court found that Powell no longer perceived King to be a threat at this point.)

At one-minute-five-seconds (1:05) on the videotape, Briseno, in the District Court’s words, “stomped” on King’s upper back or neck. King’s body writhed in response.

At 1:07, Powell and Wind again began to strike King with a series of baton blows, and Wind kicked him in the upper thoracic or cervical area six times until 1:26.

At about 1:29, King put his hands behind his back and was handcuffed. Where the baton blows fell and the intentions of King and the officers at various points were contested at trial, but, as noted, petitioners’ guilt has been established.

Powell radioed for an ambulance. He sent two messages over a communications network to the other officers that said “‘ooops'” and “‘I havent [sic] beaten anyone this bad in a long time.'”

Koon sent a message to the police station that said: “‘Unit just had a big time use of force. . . . Tased and beat the suspect of CHP pursuit big time.'”

King was taken to a hospital where he was treated for a fractured leg, multiple facial fractures, and numerous bruises and contusions. Learning that King worked at Dodger Stadium, Powell said to King: “‘We played a little ball tonight, didn’t we Rodney? . . . You know, we played a little ball, we played a little hardball tonight, we hit quite a few home runs. . . . Yes, we played a little ball and you lost and we won.'”

Excerpt from the 1996 Supreme Court decision.