English Script Request

In 1991, a black man named Rodney King led police in Los Angeles on a high-speed chase. After the chase, officers tried to arrest him. "Now the story might never have surfaced if someone hadn't picked up his home video camera. We've all seen the pictures of the Los Angeles police officers beating a man they had just pulled over." A man living nearby videotaped police officers striking King repeatedly with their sticks and kicking him on the ground. The officers later said King had resisted even after they shocked him with an electric stun gun. The man took the 81-second video to a local television station. Soon, people all over the country were watching it. The beating led to criminal charges against poor white police officers. The trial was moved out of Los Angeles, and lawyers argued that the officers might not receive a fair trial there. On April 29, 1992, a mostly white jury in the community North of the city returned its findings. The jury found the officers not guilty of assaulting Rodney King. *dramatic music* Anger at the jury's verdict soon led to rioting that began in the largely poor black neighborhoods of
South-central Los Angeles. "Don't go near this area. South-central Los Angeles at Florence and Normandy because there is still no police presence there and a lot of people trying to get through that intersection have been assaulted with rocks, and bottles, and sticks." More than 50 people died in days of violence before police and troops brought the unrest under control. Many more were injured, and hundreds of buildings were destroyed by fire. It was some of the worst rioting in American History, and received worldwide attention. The following year, a federal jury found two of the officers who had beaten Rodney King guilty of violating his civil rights. They were sent to prison. *dramatic music*