Post: #1

Quote:Rodney King, whose beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 was caught on camera and sparked riots after the acquittal of the four officers involved, was found dead in his swimming pool Sunday, authorities and his fiancee confirmed. He was 47.

King's beating after a high-speed car chase and its aftermath forever changed Los Angeles, its police department and the dialogue on race in America.

King was 25 and on parole after a robbery conviction in April 1991. In an interview in 2011, he recalled he had been drinking and was headed home from a friend's house when he saw a police car following him and panicked, thinking he would be sent back to prison. So he attempted to flee.

"I had a job to go to that Monday, and I knew I was on parole, and I knew I wasn't supposed to be drinking, and I'm like 'Oh, my God,'" he told CNN.


He realized he couldn't outrun the police, but looked for a public place to stop. "I saw all those apartments over there, so I said, 'I'm gonna stop right there,'" he said. "'If it goes down, somebody will see it.'"

An amateur cameraman caught the scene as four white police officers struck King more than 50 times with their wooden batons and used a stun gun on him.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/17/us/obit-ro...index.html

Post: #2

Race discussion coming in 3... 2... 1...

Post: #3

(06-17-2012 12:20 PM)Vicious Wrote:  Race discussion coming in 3... 2... 1...

I lol'd.

Post: #4

(06-17-2012 12:20 PM)Vicious Wrote:  Race discussion coming in 3... 2... 1...

Post: #5

Died on Father's Day.

Post: #6

Not to dance on the guy's grave, but he was an idiot. He kept getting arrested over and over for dumb shit in the years after the riots. He was awarded almost $4 million dollars. He should've just went on early retirement to Brazil or Colombia and lived like a king(no pun intended) for the rest of his life instead of staying here and getting into more dumb shit. Plus if he wanted to do dumb shit in those countries, he could've at least greased the cops to leave him alone.

Post: #7

Didn't Rodney King try to be a boxer or a wrestler?

I forget which one, but I know he tried doing one of them.

Post: #8

(06-17-2012 03:18 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  Not to dance on the guy's grave, but he was an idiot. He kept getting arrested over and over for dumb shit in the years after the riots. He was awarded almost $4 million dollars. He should've just went on early retirement to Brazil or Colombia and lived like a king(no pun intended) for the rest of his life instead of staying here and getting into more dumb shit. Plus if he wanted to do dumb shit in those countries, he could've at least greased the cops to leave him alone.

Like Christ Rock said there's a big difference between rich and wealthy. I feel the same way about O.J. why he stayed in US after beating a murder rap(of a young White woman at that) is beyond me.

Post: #9

(06-17-2012 04:25 PM)playa_with_a_passport Wrote:  [quote='speakeasy' pid='224915' dateline='1339964326']
Not to dance on the guy's grave, but he was an idiot. He kept getting arrested over and over for dumb shit in the years after the riots. He was awarded almost $4 million dollars. He should've just went on early retirement to Brazil or Colombia and lived like a king(no pun intended) for the rest of his life instead of staying here and getting into more dumb shit. Plus if he wanted to do dumb shit in those countries, he could've at least greased the cops to leave him alone.

You assume that Rodney King was something more than a dumb drug addict, which he wasn't. And before this gets heated further, being a dumb druggie doesn't warrant the beat down he received. I'm just saying the guy's life aside from that was still filled with a lot of bad choices. And if you put a druggie on a plane in LA, when he gets off in Rio, he's still a druggie. I would also bet that the money he received in the civil settlement was mostly eaten up by lawyers.

(06-17-2012 04:25 PM)playa_with_a_passport Wrote:  Like Christ Rock said there's a big difference between rich and wealthy. I feel the same way about O.J. why he stayed in US after beating a murder rap(of a young White woman at that) is beyond me.

Jon Roberts spoke of OJ in his book American Desperado. He said OJ was without a doubt the most arrogant NFL player, and one of the most arrogant people in general that he ever encountered during the time he smuggled $2 billion in coke into the US. His arrogance/ego is why he murdered those two people. OJ didn't see a need to leave the US once he was acquitted. It's called irrational self confidence. It's why he thought he could get away with participating in a high profile armed robbery.

Post: #10

Rodney Luther King Jr.

Post: #11

Found some footage from the scene: