Rodney King found dead in swimming pool

I was up watching CNN when the first 'breaking news' of the Rodney King arrest came in. There were 2 versions of the tape. The complete version and then the edited version. The complete version was what I saw that night and what the jury saw at the trial. The edited version was what was replayed ad infinitum by the news and what most people saw.

As background, on the night of the arrest, Rodney King had been convicted of Robbery and was Driving While Intoxicated with 3 other friends when the police first tried to pull him over. He was on parole and worried that the DWI arrest would send him back to prison as a violation of his parole. He didn't stop and there was a 10 to 15 minute pursuit. Several of the LA area agencies were involved. CHP started the pursuit, with LAPD and other agencies joining in.

The start of the tape shows the 2 passengers in the back of the car being ordered out of the car, ordered to lie on the floor, cross their legs, etc. and handcuffed without any incident. The tape then shows Rodney getting out of the car and disobeying police orders. He faces the police instead of turning his back to them and walking backwards as ordered, and as the other 2 passengers did. He puffs his chest out, so to speak, throws his arms up and is, generally speaking, a nasty drunk looking for a fight. Since he was aggressive and ignoring lawful orders, a taser was fired at him. The taser had no effect on him. The police then tried to tackle him, each one going for a particular arm or leg. Rodney was able to fight off the tackle and started swinging, striking one of the officers. So, after the less forceful or violent methods were used, the batons came out. As another poster said, they went for his large muscles. One good blow to the head would have knocked Rodney out immediately. But, they weren't swinging for his head. Rodney never just stopped, he never gave up and just lied down and let himself get cuffed. He kept trying to fight.

That's where the edited version of the tape that's become the 'history' of the incident starts. Just Rodney on the ground, being hit over and over again for what seems like no good reason at all.

If you search the web enough, you can find the unedited version and see for yourself.

Maybe Rodney didn't need to have been hit so many times, but if the unedited version, which is what the jury saw, and what I saw when the story was 'breaking', was what the media decided to show to the public, I don't think there would have been such a disconnect, such a feeling of injustice, and such a violent aftermath which led to the death of 55 people.

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Originally Posted by Jericho

I hope you had permission to post that! :nervous:

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No permission granted

Well as in the words of Rodney King "Can't we get along".

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Originally Posted by lovesall

Well as in the words of Rodney King "Can't we get along".

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In the words of reality "Never can; never will."

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Originally Posted by fastingforlife

Listen asshole, you no longer have my permission to comment on my comments....you scumbag fuck.

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well that's a tad harsh !! ....maybe you weren't aware that Trish has always been right, is currently still always right, and will always be right....and should you not see it that way, well then consider the "twit" thing an early warning...it'll get worse. and btw for the record...I've caught her in a few spelling mistakes, so we know that she's at least human, and therefore by nature.............fallible. And I spell checked this just to be sure !

Back to the topic....Never really thought RK was all that bad a guy...or wanted all the fallout...but he should have stayed down when told to do so. He's smart enough to know that. The odds did not favor a good outcome. Sure he had some scrapes with the law...but who hasn't? I heard his neighbor interviewed today on the radio...said Rodney used to bring him barbeque since he lived alone and said Rodney was a decent guy. Thought maybe the dude could have been Dino.

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Originally Posted by fastingforlife

No permission granted

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It was a reply, not a comment...permission not required.

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Originally Posted by onmyknees

well that's a tad harsh !! ....maybe you weren't aware that Trish has always been right, is currently still always right, and will always be right....and should you not see it that way, well then consider the "twit" thing an early warning...it'll get worse. and btw for the record...I've caught her in a few spelling mistakes, so we know that she's at least human, and therefore by nature.............fallible. And I spell checked this just to be sure !

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Did you check a grammar text to see if one ellipsis may follow another back to back?

Can't we all just float?

Couldn't the water in his pool and his lungs "just get along"?