Citizen King

Last weekend on the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, the network felt it was important enough to fly him to Los Angeles to interview Rodney King to get his thoughts about the 20-year anniversary of the riots that left over 55 people dead and 2,000 injured. For the first time, according to Mr. Holt, Mr. King admitted to driving over 100 miles per hour while being pursued by California Highway Patrol and L.A.P.D. officers. Until then, he and the media gave the impression he was just driving down the street minding his own business when the mean police officers attempted to stop him because he was black. Dr. Drew Pinsky, on CNN’s Dr. Drew Show, interviewed Mr. King and told him, “You’re just a regular citizen that got caught in something that no one could have predicted would have the kind of impact on history.” Rodney King is not a “regular citizen.” “Regular” citizens aren’t on parole. When a regular citizen is caught driving drunk, they don’t flee the police racing over 100 miles per hour on freeways and through residential streets. “Regular” citizens, even when caught driving under the influence of alcohol, have enough sense to comply with an officer’s instructions and not resist arrest. “Regular” citizens don’t become the media poster child for “racial profiling,” and get 3.8 million dollars for his first book deal and an almost equal sum from a lawsuit, and then lose it in “bad investments.” “Regular” citizens have a job, go to work, raise a family, obey the law and enjoy the opportunities this country has to offer. I hate to break it to Dr. Drew, but Rodney King is no “regular citizen.” Citizen King was on parole for robbery where he threatened a store owner with an iron bar. Parole, unlike probation, is when a person serves time in a state or federal prison, and is released early. Probationers, on the other hand, serve their sentence “on the street” and do not go to the county jail after conviction of a misdemeanor. The analysis of Citizen King’s blood/alcohol content five hours after being arrested was just under the legal limit. Considering alcohol dissipates at an average rate of .025 per hour, he would have been at least twice the legal limit at the time of his arrest. This probably explains why he grabbed his rear end and rotated his hips in a sexually suggestive manner to the police officers who were attempting to arrest him, and why he ignored their lawful commands and fiercely resisted. He knew his parole would be violated and his next stop was back to state prison. He was determined to put on a show before returning to the big house. His behavior was so bizarre, the officers understandably thought he was under the influence of the drug popular in the black community at the time, Phencyclidine, or PCP, aka “Angel Dust.” I have arrested scores of people under the influence of PCP as a police officer in Pasadena, California, where Mr. King grew up, I can tell you that “Dusters” feel no pain, and have to always be physically restrained. Pasadena P.D. had a “two handcuff” policy because some dusters, even with their hands cuffed behind their back, were able to bust the chain link between the cuffs because they were oblivious to pain. The department’s policy was to also use “hobble cords” to lasso the suspect’s legs with a nylon rope and latch it on to the handcuffs, making the suspect look as though he was a roped calf at a rodeo. That’s how violent many of these dusters became. This evidence, and a lot more, such as Citizen King’s seeming indifference to being shot with a Taser, reinforced the thought he was under the influence of PCP in the minds of the four officers, and was presented to the Simi Valley jury that acquitted them. The rest is history. Citizen King is still a media hero whereas two of the L.A.P.D. officers were later convicted of federal civil rights violations; the other two were acquitted. Mr. King became a multi-millionaire and a “celebrity” on reality television shows. All of the officers lost their livelihoods and reputations. In two decades, the media has finally found a new poster child: Trayvon Martin. When a reasonable jury acquits Mr. George Zimmerman of second degree murder, stand by for a repeat of the Los Angeles riots, but probably at a much larger scale. Can’t we all just get along? (Mr. King accidently drowned at his home after this column was written.)