Archive Entry #86: May 7, 1992

Twenty-three years ago our nation was shocked and divided when a Los Angeles jury found police officers not guilty of charges related to the beating endured by a man named Rodney King. The beating, which was captured on video, seemed to most of us to be an open and shut case of excessive force, but the jury found otherwise.

Painfully violent riots followed the jury verdicts, leading Mr King famously to ask “Can we all get along?”

A subsequent civil case decision awarded Rodney King $3.8 million as compensation for the beating he incurred, but his case was undoubtedly the first high profile example of what of late have been sadly common: questionable police activity caught on camera.

In other arenas I have made clear that I have high regard for law enforcement personnel, that I believe the vast majority of them do the right thing for the right reasons. But sometimes, justice requires a different conclusion. The Rodney King case was one of those times, or so it will be obvious I believed in May 1992 when I first published today’s column.

Among the nearly 500 “And from Bill...” columns I have written in the last 30 years, this one remains for me the most memorable.

COMING NEXT: From April 2007, a response to the Virginia Tech University mass killings, and yet another visit to one of my signature passions, gun control. Find it HERE.