defendant, lawrence m. powell, not guilty of the crime of the assault. not guilty. these two words spoken from a california jury box 20 years ago, on april 29th, touched off five days of rioting in los angeles. mobs set fire damaging more than 1500 buildings, destroying 1200 businesses. and causing more than $1 billion in property damage. thousands were arrested, more than 50 people were killed. more than 600 injured. the riots erupted because the shock of the injustice was so great. americans had watched, with their own two eyes, as los angeles police officers surrounded rod i didn t king and delivered blow after sickening blow with their nightsticks. most of them delivered by officer lawrence powell. and the verdict felt like an assault on our very reason, not guilty how can that be? after what we all saw? and the rage, though misdirected through rioting, was righteous.
defendant lawrence m. powell not guilty. after the beating whose videotaping shocked the world, the officers were found not guilty on every count except the one where no decision was reached, and among black leader who is had gathered to watch the verdict today were tears. when that decision came down, i got so sick, i was actually sick in the stomach. my immediate reaction is we better get out back to l.a. and start having some peaceful demonstrations. we need to be heard. no violence. before i could make arrangements to go, the place was ablaze. terrible, terrible pictures. immediately there was anger manifesting itself across
defendant, lawrence m. powell, not guilty. after the beating in this videotape shocked the world, the officers were found not guilty on every count except the one where no decision was reached. and a number of black leaders who gathered today to watch the verdict were in tears. when that decision came down, i got so sick. i was actually sick to my stomach. my immediate reaction is, we better get back to l.a. and start having some peaceful demonstrations. we need to be heard. before i could make arrangements to go, the place was ablaze. terrible, terrible pictures. immediately, there was anger manifesting itself across southern california.
defendant, lawrence m. powell, not guilty. after the beating in this videotape shocked the world, the officers were found not guilty on every count except the one where no decision was reached. and among black leaders who had gathered to watch the verdict today were tears. when that decision came down, i got so sick. i was actually sick to my stomach. my immediate reaction is, we better get back to l.a. and start having some peaceful demonstrations. we need to be heard. before i could make arrangements to go, the place was ablaze. terrible, terrible pictures. immediately, there was anger manifesting itself across southern california.
eight people have been shot, including at least four students. we can only make an appeal to the gunman. stop. there s been enough already. an all white jury acquitted four white police officers of assault in the videotaped beating of black motorist rodney king. i was scared. i was scared for my life. across the nation, people were paying attention to this. the officers struck him with batons between 53 and 56 times. it was one of the first cases where there was actual video of a case of alleged police brutality. for 13 months, the city of los angeles has been a pressure cooker, building up to the rodney king trial. we, the jury, in the above entitled action find the defendant, lawrence m. powell, not guilty.