Originally posted by: Warbler
Well, I believe I did say that violence was not the answer and that there has to be a more peaceful for way to solve these problems. I was not saying their rioting was justified, merely that their anger and frustration at problems they face is justified.
As the for the King verdict. I was unware of tazers being used. The cops had every right to arrest King. He was in clear violation of the law. And they had to right to use force against him because he resisted arrest. But there came a point(as could clearly be seen in the video) where he was clearly subdued and they kept on beating him. They went too far. To this day I can't understand how the jury came to the verdict it did, I think it was the wrong one. But the King verdict was just the spark that lit the fire. For years there had been racial problems in L.A. and it had finally come to a boil. They thought that had an open and shut case and somehow the verdict went the other way. They felt the system screwed them again. I am not saying the people their were justified in their rioting, merely that they were justified in being angry and upset.
As the for the King verdict. I was unware of tazers being used. The cops had every right to arrest King. He was in clear violation of the law. And they had to right to use force against him because he resisted arrest. But there came a point(as could clearly be seen in the video) where he was clearly subdued and they kept on beating him. They went too far. To this day I can't understand how the jury came to the verdict it did, I think it was the wrong one. But the King verdict was just the spark that lit the fire. For years there had been racial problems in L.A. and it had finally come to a boil. They thought that had an open and shut case and somehow the verdict went the other way. They felt the system screwed them again. I am not saying the people their were justified in their rioting, merely that they were justified in being angry and upset.
Well, I believe I did say that violence was not the answer and that there has to be a more peaceful for way to solve these problems. I was not saying their rioting was justified, merely that their anger and frustration at problems they face is justified.
As the for the King verdict. I was unware of tazers being used. The cops had every right to arrest King. He was in clear violation of the law. And they had to right to use force against him because he resisted arrest. But there came a point(as could clearly be seen in the video) where he was clearly subdued and they kept on beating him. They went too far. To this day I can't understand how the jury came to the verdict it did, I think it was the wrong one. But the King verdict was just the spark that lit the fire. For years there had been racial problems in L.A. and it had finally come to a boil. They thought that had an open and shut case and somehow the verdict went the other way. They felt the system screwed them again. I am not saying the people their were justified in their rioting, merely that they were justified in being angry and upset.
As the for the King verdict. I was unware of tazers being used. The cops had every right to arrest King. He was in clear violation of the law. And they had to right to use force against him because he resisted arrest. But there came a point(as could clearly be seen in the video) where he was clearly subdued and they kept on beating him. They went too far. To this day I can't understand how the jury came to the verdict it did, I think it was the wrong one. But the King verdict was just the spark that lit the fire. For years there had been racial problems in L.A. and it had finally come to a boil. They thought that had an open and shut case and somehow the verdict went the other way. They felt the system screwed them again. I am not saying the people their were justified in their rioting, merely that they were justified in being angry and upset.
The King situation was ugly. As I've posted elsewhere, my father is an ex-cop, and he went out of his way to not be one of "those" cops (it actually cost him his career, I think). Upon seeing the video, his reaction was that the cops "...were holding court in the street", and that something happened off camera that provoked it. He also pointed out that during a high-speed chase, the adrenalaine (sp?) gets going so much, that when you finally do catch the person that you really have to restrain yourself, because the person not only put their own lives at risk, but also that of the police and the people in the streets, and that it's quite easy to not realize you're being too rough.
That being said, I do believe the police went way beyond what could be deemed acceptable in terms of continued punishment. In my opinion, if he attacked them after they used non-lethal force with tazers, they should have used lethal force.
As far as the rioting goes, it's not above the denizens of LA to riot when the Lakers win the NBA championship, so I'm not too sympathetic about it. I'll refer to my previous comments about France and say, resolve things peacefully, or take on the pros, not innocent civilians or private property.