# Rodney King Beating **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 16, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593 "2006-10-16T03:10:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/1 "2006-10-16T03:10:58Z")
I was only in elementary school when the Rodney King incident took place so I don’t really remember much about the atmosphere of the time. I was reading over the wiki article on him [Rodney King - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King) and it seems clear he was resisting arrest, refused to comply to verbal commands, allegedly lunged for an officer’s weapon, etc. But then again 11 fractures just to the skull, good lord. So with whom does the blame lie? Somewhere in the middle? ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/2 "2006-10-16T03:15:10Z")
I think it lies mostly with King. They guy kept fighting after being tased twice, and was pretty successfully resisting arrest from many cops. On the other hand I don’t know if just whaling on him was the best strategy for arresting him. But I don’t have a lot of sympathy for guys on crack resisting arrest. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/3 "2006-10-16T03:15:51Z")
My reading is that Rodney King did in fact go wild. It’s true the police were way over the top in subduing him. However, I suspect the motive was more an instinctive human response than racism. Simply put, police (and others) all over the palce have a tendency to just keep hitting when attacked until the target stops moving. That doesn’t excuse it, but I’m not certain whether criminal charges were appropriate or not. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/4 "2006-10-16T03:20:00Z")
I think mostly with the cops, but some with king. King kept resisting, but he wasnt superman. if there were one or two cops there then beating him senseless could have been a valid strategy. With what, 20 cops around…it wouldnt have been that big a deal to get him hooked up. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/5 "2006-10-16T03:38:06Z")
Let’s just say that the last time I touched this I took a pretty fearful beating. Not that it changed my mind, per se, but I think it taught me a little bit of tact. So, tactfully, Rodney King is a bad man who did a very bad thing and has continued to do bad things. I’m not convinced that the cops went too far given the facts, but I am willing to entertain the notion that some people do think that the cops went too far. We’ll just have to agree to disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/6 "2006-10-16T03:47:45Z")
A federal jury said they committed a crime. To me it looked like a bunch of white cops beating the hell out a black guy. I see no particular reason to bend over backwards trying to justify it. Their actions clearly went beyond what was necessary to subdue the suspect. They also made racist jokes about it afterwards and seemed to have really gotten their rocks off. I hope they enjoyed prison. ---
**Author:** ![looking\_busy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@looking\_busy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/looking_busy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/7 "2006-10-16T04:00:44Z")
[QUOTE=bdgr] I think mostly with the cops, but some with king. King kept resisting, but he wasnt superman. if there were one or two cops there then beating him senseless could have been a valid strategy. With what, 20 cops around…it wouldnt have been that big a deal to get him hooked up. [/QUOTE] It seems to me that “20 cops around” is more an arguement for things getting out of hand than deliberate racism - I may be niaeve, but believing that 20 something cops (basically) randomly selected are racist doesn’t really fly with me. (not that cops can’t be racist). I remember seeing the video of the beating, and it looked horrible, but what I tend to find happens a lot in such situations is that people try to ascribe rational thought to a situation that may not have been rational. Rationally, yes 20 cops can easily subdue one man, therefore the only reason for the beating must be racism - but in the heat of the moment, perhaps the cops weren’t thinking, but merely reacting. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/8 "2006-10-16T04:03:38Z")
I think that whether it was racially motivated is a side issue (I’ll just say that I’m sure the racial issue didn’t _help_ anything). If they went too far, they went too far, and it really doesn’t matter if they were racist or not. It would have been just as much a crime if the victim had been white. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/9 "2006-10-16T04:20:59Z")
I find it interesting that the reactions to what happened to King are mixed, with people shifting the blame to various parties. Would anyone have the same reaction if King had been a woman? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/10 "2006-10-16T04:34:04Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] I’m not convinced that the cops went too far given the facts, but I am willing to entertain the notion that some people do think that the cops went too far. [/QUOTE] Everything else aside, the officers were not using proper techniques to subdue a suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/11 "2006-10-16T05:02:00Z")
The fact that the police falsified their reports of the arrest indicates that they knew that what they had done was wrong. And they continued to lie about it, and deny it right up until the video was played for everyone to see. (Had this video not become public, this would have been just another case of a black man claiming police brutality during the arrest, and the police denying it. Something that probably happens every week.) Obviously King had done something to cause the arrest in the first place, and was wrong to resist arrest. But the police were also wrong in the beating that they did. And they knew it. And so, eventually, did the federal jury. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/12 "2006-10-16T11:28:16Z")
[QUOTE=Lissa] Everything else aside, the officers were not using proper techniques to subdue a suspect. [/QUOTE] What are the proper techniques for subduing a suspect? Particularly a large, enraged, suspect who has withstood two taserings and who continued to physically attack police officers. I’m not being sarcastic, I would really like to know. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/13 "2006-10-16T11:43:13Z")
Actually my recollection is that in the early days after the video came out apolice spokesman said that the officers were following the procedure that they were trained in - they were to simply keep hitting the suspect until he stopped moving as directed. At the time this seemed pretty straightforward and sensible to me but the statement never came up again. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/14 "2006-10-16T12:15:59Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I think that whether it was racially motivated is a side issue (I’ll just say that I’m sure the racial issue didn’t _help_ anything). If they went too far, they went too far, and it really doesn’t matter if they were racist or not. It would have been just as much a crime if the victim had been white. [/QUOTE] Dio’s got it in one, here. The racism is an entirely sidebar issue in the Rodney King arrest (though later it became of extreme importance). The fact that the officers were standing around beating a subject they wished to arrest is the issue at hand. The cover up, the lies, and the videotape later blew it up into a huge story. But police brutality is (or should be) a non-racial issue. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/15 "2006-10-16T12:24:47Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] they were to simply keep hitting the suspect until he stopped moving as directed. At the time this seemed pretty straightforward and sensible to me but the statement never came up again. [/QUOTE] At a certain point, I think we should expect the cops to break out less violent measures to get someone in custody. If there’s just one or two of you, perhaps you have to keep hitting in order to prevent it getting out of hand. When there’s a crowd of you, it just doesn’t seem right that the “correct” method is standing around swatting him and kicking him in the head while he’s on his hands and knees. I understand that putting the sticks away and piling on to subdue him may result in officer injuries, but I consider that part of the job, just like you risk injury when playing football. If the situation is not life threatening to the cop (or not likely to escalate to life threatening), then they shouldn’t be risking the suspect’s life to subue him. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/16 "2006-10-16T12:34:11Z")
I realise that and I don’t know how much is **my** editorial addition to what I originally heard on the newscast but the gist was, the more you are getting hit without complying with orders to stop moving, the more reason it is for the police to keep hitting you. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/17 "2006-10-16T14:02:05Z")
Did the cops go to far is only partially the issue. If the police stop you for anything, whether you feel it is warranted or not- do what they say! How hard is that for people to understand? The police, regardless of how you feel, are in charge, can tell you what to do, and can take action if you don’t comply. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/18 "2006-10-16T14:10:45Z")
I love how people exaggerate ineffectual little twitches from a guy who is lying semi-conscious and beaten half to death on the ground into “resisting arrest” or “attacking police officers.” Funny that the federal jury didn’t think the cops were defending themselves. I wonder why. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/19 "2006-10-16T14:26:31Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I love how people exaggerate ineffectual little twitches from a guy who is lying semi-conscious and beaten half to death on the ground into “resisting arrest” or “attacking police officers.” Funny that the federal jury didn’t think the cops were defending themselves. I wonder why. [/QUOTE] The video was pretty jumpy and unclear, but I don’t remember there being any indication that he was semi-concious and being beaten half to death. What conclusion a jury came to does not necessarily have anything to do with what opinions SD members have. A jury found OJ not guilty also, but that hasn’t changed the fact that most of us believe he was guilty. ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593/20 "2006-10-16T14:32:00Z")
Rodney King is a real piece of human garbage who deserved a good ass beating. The cops in this case were viscious, sadistic scum bags who deserved to go to prison. No one in this sorry event did the right thing, but, all in all, I’d say pretty much everyone involved got what they deserved. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rodney-king-beating/376593.md?page=2)