Rodney King Criminal Trial Verdict Acquitting Four Police Officers Announced, Four Days of Riots, 55 Deaths, $1,000,000,000 in Damage
On this day in 1992, riots broke out in South Central L.A. after an all-white Simi Valley jury acquitted four police officers who had been videotaped beating Rodney King. King suffered a broken face bone, a broken ankle, and many bruises and cuts.
The riots continued for four days, during which L.A.P.D. officers pulled out of several areas, leaving law-abiding citizens and local businesses completely at the “mercy” of the rioters. 55 people died, thousands were injured, there were dozens of fires, and over a billion dollars in damage.
Korean-owned businesses were especially targeted by the rioters.
The riots ended only after the National Guard was called in to restore order.
Among those seriously hurt was Reginald Denny, who was pulled from his truck, severely beaten by several rioters, and then left lying on the street, all while a TV helicopter crew caught the incident on camera and broadcast it live on local television. The rioters struck Denny in the head with a cinder block and fractured his skull in 91 places. Four heroic local residents saw Denny’s beating on TV, rushed to the scene, grabbed Denny, put him into a cab, and drove him to a nearby hospital. Denny’s ability to speak and walk is impaired to this day despite years of rehabilitative therapy.
Rodney King was represented by Johnnie Cochran in his civil suit against L.A. and was awarded $3.8 million.
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