If the cops had tasers during the Rodney King incident....

[Walt Starr]

there would have been a completely different outcome. Most likely, he would have been easily subdued, arrested, and processed. No beating. No cops on trial. No riots.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. BULLFUCKINGSHIT..if the cops had tasers

King would have been beaten and tasered. I am happy you love cops so much to the point of justifying brutality.

I like GOOD COPS and I reserve the right to criticize BAD COPS and cops that use force excessively to get their rocks off.

Now go back to that video after she is down and tell me how the second tasering was justified.

[Walt Starr]

4. What happened to Rodney King that night WAS brutality

One taze would have been enough to subdue him, IMO.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. You didn't answer my question

why did he tase her a second time when she was already down? There was no justification for it. Stop justifying polic brutality against minorities.

[Walt Starr]

13. she continued to resist after the first taze

Second taze was justified.

I suggest you watch the video that has the commentary.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

25. I watched it. She was down. It was brutality.

I am certain if the woman were white you would see it for the brutality it was.

[Walt Starr]

26. Oh Geeze!

:eyes:

'Nuff said.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

28. Time for a soul check

you seem to be able to justify poor treatment of minorities whether it's at the border or in Florida.

[Walt Starr]

29. Soul check

My soul is fine. How about yours?

It takes a poor soul to accuse somebody of racism with few facts to go on.

[Pithlet]

31. Facts. Such silly useless things, huh?

[Walt Starr]

Nope, I've used facts

Seems a lot of DUers would prefer lots of dead cops, though.

That's the hard fact.

[merh]

38. FACTS

The fact is - Rodney King was tased and the officer that tased him was convicted of violating federal law.

Bullshit on your facts!

[Pithlet]

39. Some want to live in a society

where cops can do whatever the hell they feel like doing to you, because they're "authority". Some want to live in a police state. What is one to do?

[Walt Starr]

41. Some want to live in a society where there is no rule of law whatsoever

Some think cops should just walk away from a perp when they won't come along quietly.

I'm not one of those. I've seen crime and I've known cops. Every time they stop a car there are HUGE risks.

[Pithlet]

42. Really?

Where are those posts? I'd like to see those. I certainly wouldn't agree with anyone who thought that. I don't think that cops should have to walk away from someone because they didn't want to be arrested. I didn't see anyone else who thought that, either.

I've known cops, too. In fact, I know one who was disgusted by this. She stated there was no defense for this. I'm sure there are more cops who would agree with her.

[tx_dem41]

35. "Facts". Hmm...what "facts" are you talking about? n/t

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

45. Well so far you've justified tasering a black woman for speeding and

mouthing off and justified armed white people detaining unarmed brown people in the name of law and order, which was a bigtime code word for racism in the south...so let me put it this way...if someone in YOUR FAMILY WAS ALREADY DOWN ON THE GROUND and a cop tasered them, would you still think it just?

[Walt Starr]

46. If they were behaving like this woman

I'd be 100% on the side of the cops.

[merh]

34. NSM

The cop that was convicted of violating King's civil rights, Officer Koon, did use a taser.

Mr. Starr does not know what the heck he is talking about!

[mr_hat]

2. I reckon the first half-dozen "tazes" or so

would have just pissed Rodney off.

[Bluebear]

3. Unless you believe they enjoyed beating holy hell out of him.

Just sayin'.

[Walt Starr]

7. There were good cops and bad cops at the scene that night

One taze would've been enough to subdue King and for the good cops to take control.

Remember, not every cop there was charged and charges were not even considered for some of them.

Of course, bad cops would have stayed on the force, but that happened in the Rodney King affair anyway.

[merh]

40. The cop that tased (?) King was convicted of violating his civil rights

This is an incident where the court found that the force used (including the taser) was excessive under the circumstances and the fact that King did not comply was combative did not negate Officer Koon's excessive force, they were considered as mitigating factors under the sentencing guidelines and that is what was considered by SCOTUS.

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).

[seabeyond]

5. lordy what we are accepting as a society

i am glad we have a new instrument (toy) coming out for the cops to play with on us. lets see, for the peaceful protestors. not that anyone is going to be bothered cops using it. some kind of piercing noise that takes a persn to their knees

oh joy

[Sandpiper]

6. Do you really think those riots were about Rodney King?

They were about Rodney King to the same extent that the Civil War was about Fort Sumter.

[Walt Starr]

10. Without a trigger event

riots don't happen.

The cops being acquitted was the trigger event.

[Pithlet]

9. You have got to be kidding me. n/t

[bpilgrim]

11. He was TASERED and Beat'n BRUTALLY

fyi

peace

[tx_dem41]

15. Hey, BP, great minds think alike (and simultaneously...post #12)...

well at least once every blue moon. Glad to NOT be sparring with you this time. :hi:

[Walt Starr]

16. You're right, I was wrong

I did not know they used a taser.

Are tasers more effective today than they were more than a decade ago?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

22. You are wrong on two accounts then

Police brutality is never justified and if anything, makes it harder to prosecute criminals. Rogue cops should be fired.

[Walt Starr]

24. I'm wrong on this

I'm right about the cop with the woman.

[tx_dem41]

12. Ummm....as I recall, they did have tasers and used them. n/t

[China_cat]

14. Did we not see the same video?

I seem to remember them tasering him...the one with the leads...and then they beat him.

From a report about the incident:
" Instead, he twice tried tasing King. The ineffectiveness of the Taser convinced Koon that King was "dusted," or on the drug PCP. When the Taser and swarming King proved unsuccessful, Koon, according to one investigator, "looked around and saw a bunch of rookies--he tunneled in."

[KurtNYC]

30. The King beating fit with other events

at the time.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/lapdaccount.html

[Bluebear]

17. King "was tasered not once but twice"

http://www.wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26147

[Walt Starr]

19. Yep, did not remember that

and admitted I was wrong ain response to a post above.

[tx_dem41]

18. Wikipedia link to the King beating...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King

"Twice, the police attempted to subdue him with 50,000 volt tasers, such high voltage was considered to be enough to put any man down, but these did not succeed."

[VOX]

Good find, tx_dem41. n/t

[VOX]

20. Those cops were circling Rodney King like a wolf pack...

And the group "sense-a-kill" mentality was such that if they each had had tasers, it's a distinct probability that too many of them would have used them.

Given the situation, sadly, I cannot see any other outcome for the Rodney King beating.

[Walt Starr]

21. I WAS WRONG, THEY DID HAVE TASERS

Sorry all.

[tx_dem41]

23. That's okay, Walt....Just remember...

even Ted Williams didn't get a hit 60% of his at-bats in 1941.

[NervousRex]

27. King would have died....

after multiple taserings.

[UdoKier]

32. There would have been riots.

South Central was simmering with anger about the crime, the police abuse, and industry's abandonment of the inner city amidst the horrible Reagan-Bush economy.

King's beating and the trial was just the trigger to finally set it off. There would have been another.


The LA riots were a wake-up call, and we as a nation have still done precious little to address the problems we were being alerted to.

[merh]

33. Wrong - the taser was used on Rodeny King!

Tasers were used in the Rodney King incident. Go read US v. Koon.

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.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=U20014

And Koon was convicted of the federal crime of violating the civil rights of King under the color of the law! The court recognized that King was an aggressor and failed to comply, but the force used (including the TASER) was found to be excessive under the circumstances.

How about those facts! :hi:

[Taverner]

36. If the cops would have tasered King he would have been dead

You CAN taser someone to death, and with the amount of anger and adrenaline flowing that day, they would have tasered until he stopped breathing.

[tx_dem41]

37. Taverner....look up-thread.

He was tasered.

[Taverner]

44. Yeah i read that

didnt notice it at first

[cestpaspossible]

43. They did have tasers.

But at least this thread did a good job of showing where you are really coming from on this issue, Walt....