Rodney King Wiki, Biography
After the death of Tire Nichols on January 10, many netizens compared the 29-year-old’s encounter to the 1991 beating of Rodney King, an event that was seen as the main catalyst for the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
On March 3, 1991, California man Rodney King was allegedly drinking and driving in the San Fernando Valley when Los Angeles police officers pulled him over. Authorities reportedly kicked and punched King and his friends. King reported that he suffered a broken leg and a taser burn to his chest from the incident.
The Washington Post reported that when officers testified in a California court, they stated that they believed Rodney King was under the influence of the PCP. King’s toxicology tests, however, revealed that he tested negative for the drug at the time of the incident.
Rodney King’s history of drug use
While some netizens claim that Rodney King was an alcoholic and not a PCP user, the reality is more complicated. Although King tested negative in 1991 and had not used PCP at the time of his assault by police officers, the 2012 autopsy released at the time of his death indicated that he had traces of the drug in his system.
The Los Angeles Times reported that on June 17, 2012, King accidentally drowned in his pool. The coroner’s report indicated that, at the time, he had used alcohol, cocaine, and PCP.
The report said:
“The effects of the drugs and alcohol, combined with the subject’s cardiac condition, likely precipitated a cardiac arrhythmia, and the subject, incapacitated in the water, could not be saved.”
The claim that Rodney King was taking PCP turned out to be crucial to the defense of the officers involved in the 1991 case. They claimed that the drug made the suspects particularly dangerous, justifying increased force.
In the midst of the 1992 trial of Los Angeles officers related to the assault on King, Los Angeles police instructor Edgar Oglesby told Chicago Tribute reporters that authorities were justified in their belief that the victim had been using the drug.
Oglesby said:
“Based on all those classic symptoms, I would have to make that assumption (that King was taking PCP).”
He said officers were trained not to attempt to restrain PCP users, as the drug would break down their inhibitions, making them incredibly strong.
“It would not be advisable (to fight) a PCP user, because of the danger. The journeyman can come out on the short end of the stick.”
However, the fact that King had traces of PCP in his system after his death remains legally irrelevant in terms of the case surrounding his 1991 assault. After three of the four officers involved in the assault were acquitted, he began outrage among racial minorities in California, which led to the Los Angeles riots.
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