On March 3, Rodney King and two friends were driving along the highway, when California Highway Patrol attempted to stop him. He tried to outrun them because he was on probation and drunk, and didn't want to be arrested again. When the CHiP and LAPD forces finally stopped the car, they transferred his passengers to one of their cars, then surrounded King and proceeded to attack him. The incident was captured on camera by a civilian in the area, which was used in the case against King. The released footage caught Media and national attention, and became a rallying point for protesters. The officers were later charged by the LA DA, but they were found not guilty of assault and excessive force. LA erupted immediately after into riots. A total of 63 people died during the riots, 9 shot by police. Over 2,000 were injured. Destruction included destruction of property, fires, and looting. Much of the riots were centralized in the South LA area. There was also some interracial fighting and abuse between Black and Asian American groups in the area of the riots, due to tension between the groups. California National Guard were called in on the third day of the Riots, which had now spread to other cities in the areas, and had begun to crop up in other parts of the country. By Sunday of the week the Riots had started, things began to calm down, but mostly due to force and curfew put in place over the areas where the Rioters were located.
Sources:
- Wikipedia: 1992 Los Angeles Riots
- Wikipedia: Rodney King
- Brittanica: Los Angeles Riots of 1992
- History: Riots erupt in Los Angeles after police officers are acquitted in Rodney King trial
- CNN: Los Angeles Riots Fast Facts
- NPR: When LA Erupted In Anger: A Look Back At The Rodney King Riots
- LA Times: The L.A. Riots: 25 years later
My next post is about an event that was seven years before the LA Riots, and is the first event I don't personally remember. I feel bad, because I was old enough to be aware at the time, but as I said, I am a white girl, and I was a teenager at the time, and in a very sheltered area of the country, so I was not aware of it until I began to do this timeline. This one is much different than those above, as it is a mass slaying of a political movement and its leaders. Don't think this couldn't happen again.
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