officers - The Black Vault

FD·350 (Rev. 5·8·81)
•
(lndicc.
, ,.,age, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
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LOS ANGELES TH1ES
Editi~n: THURS • MAR 7 , 1991
Front Section, Page 21
1it1e: VICTIM 1 S ACCOUNT OF THE
POLICE BEATING
Character:
or
Classification: 44A-LA-119954; 80-33B
Submitting Office:
LOS ANGELES
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MAR 2 0 1991
FBI -lOS ANGELES -~
.Yictim's Ac~ount of the Police Beating
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The following is an edited transcript of Rodney
King's account of his beating and the events that led
up to it . .It was de~ivered to the media Wednesday
from jail before his release. King opened with a short
statement, which was followed by questions from
reporters. •
I got pulled over by an officer. He said, "Pull the
car over." Shortly after that, I got off the freeway
and I pulled to the' slow lane and I pulled over
toward the curb and stopped the car.
He said, "Put your hands where I could see
them .... ·." I put ·my hands up towards the front
windshield. . . . They said, "Take your left hand,
open up the car door." I took my left hand and I
opened up the car door. And I left my left hand
outside the car door [and] put my other hand outside
the car door. . . where they could see it. . . .
·They said, ~'Get out of the car, lay down." I got
out the car and I laid down. They said, "Face down
on the pavement, face down. . . ."
They already had their guns out and·everything
and they walked over, they handcuffed me and tied
me and then they shocked me . . . with some kind
of device . . . and they struck me across the face.
After they shocked me the first time, they paused
for a minute and then they struck me across the
face real hard with a billy club. ·. . . I was laying
face down with my hands tied and they shocked me
again on the other side of my shoulder. . ·. . ·
I could hear some kind of little rumbling back in
the back, something like, "Turn your head, turn
your head. Turn around, turn around." S.nd after
t;hat, they continued to pound on me and beat on
.me, all over my body, all over my body.
My ankles, they beat where it hurt in my ankles.
They b~at my whole ~ody where it hurt. You know
how it. feels when you get your ankles or your
. knees hit in football? It hurts. It hurts real bad,
'cause it was hit with a stick. And the same with
rhy face, my jaw. ·
I was scared. I was scared. I was scared for my
life. So I laid down real calmly and took it like a
man.
King was asked if he resisted the officers or~§truck
back. · •·
No, no, no. I wouldn't strike back .... No one
would strike back against four or five guns aimed
at him. When I went to move the other hand out
the car, immediately I was looking down a barrel of
one of the officer's guns. I could tell you how much
lint was in the barrel.
lie was asked about police accounts that he led
them on a 115-m.p.h. chase.
There was no chase. I didn't see any police lights
until I got off the freeway and got a few blocks
down. That's when I noticed the police [wer