THE WEEKL.A.BURNED

Thirty years ago, a jury in Simi Valley, California, returned verdicts on four policemen who had been charged with assault and with using excessive force against a man who had led them on a high-speed chase along a Los Angeles freeway. The incident had been captured by a man shooting video from the balcony of his nearby apartment.

The African American community in South Central Los Angeles was already unsettled. Years of racial and economic inequality had left the unemployment rate in the area at about 50%. Drugs were rampant on the streets, along with gang activity and violent crime.

Residents were fed up and angry in the Spring of 1992. And then the verdict came in: Not guilty.

This was despite the video of LAPD officers savagely beating Rodney King — a man on parole for robbery and who had led police on a high-speed chase through the city. The video of the attack had been broadcast by local TV news.

But it was clear that justice hadn’t been served. Within 30 minutes of the verdict’s announcement, more than 300 people had gathered outside the courthouse. Less than three hours afterward, the violence began.

Residents set fires, wrecked and looted liquor stores and retail shops. Lightskinned motorists were stopped at intersections, dragged from their cars and beaten. One such driver — Reginald Denny — was pulled from his truck by gang members while a TV news crew broadcast the attack from a helicopter hovering overhead. A local couple rescued Denny and rushed him to a nearby hospital, saving his life.

Residents reported police officers driving past rioting and looting and doing nothing. That afternoon, LAPD Chief Darryl Gates announced his officers had the situation under control.

As night fell, it became clear they didn’t. Only after dark did Mayor Tom Bradley declare a state of emergency and California Gov. Pete Wilson called up 2,000 National Guard troops.

On May 1 — the third day of rioting — King himself stood before local TV news cameras outside a courthouse in Beverly Hills and pleaded to residents to stop the rioting. “People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?” he asked. “Can we get along?”

A dusk-to-dawn curfew was set. Mail delivery was halted. Shops, schools and workplaces shut down. The area didn’t reopen until May 4 — five days after the unrest had begun.

Officials took note that Korean-run businesses had taken a particularly heavy toll during the riots: More than 2,000 Korean-owned businesses and shops were damaged or destroyed. Tensions between Korean and African American residents of LA had been tense after a Korean shopowner had shot and killed a 15-year-old Black girl who she wrongly suspected was shoplifting. This had happened less than two weeks after the Rodney King beating.

Later, the U.S. Dept. of Justice would try the officers for violating King’s civil rights. Two would be convicted and would serve 30 months in prison. The LAPD would fire all four officers.

The verdict: Not guilty, despite the damning video evidence. The verdict ignited the temper of the African American community of Los Angeles and touched off six nights of rioting that would set entire sections of the city ablaze and would leave dozens dead.

Above, a California Highway Patrol officer stands guard at Ninth Street and Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles as smoke rises from a fire farther down the street on the second day of rioting. Below, a Korean shop owner surveys what’s left of his southwest Los Angeles store. The Korean community was particularly hard-hit by the riots.

A beating by LAPD officers in the wee hours of March 3, 1991, had left King, left, with a fractured leg, several fractures in his face and multiple bruises and contusions. The incident Happened to be videotaped by George Holliday, right. After the police expressed no interest in his video, Holliday shared it with KTLA-TV.

Four officers were charged with assault and use of excessive force. From left to right: Sgt. Stacey Koon and officers Theodore Briseno, Timothy Wind and Laurence Powell. All four would be fired. Koon and Powell would eventually serve 30 months each for violating King’s civil rights.

Several buildings in South Central Los Angeles are fully engulfed in flames as rioting erupts after the acquittal of four police officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King on April 29, 1992.