"Can we all get along?"

"Can we all just get along here? Can we all get along?" These famous words fall from the lips of Americans from time to time, especially as they reminiscence the plea for peace made by Rodney King after the Los Angeles Riots in 1992. 

It was March 1991, and King, who was speeding down the road in his car, refused to pull over when police of Lake View Terrace, CA decided to pull him over with flashing lights and sirens.  Instead of doing what was required of him by law when a person sees the flashing lights of a patrol car behind them, he put the pedal to the metal, and at 110 mph he sped away, giving them a bit of a chase.  In his escapade he ran through several red lights and stop signs before the police finally pulled him over.


Police officers, who were already dealing with a person who tried to evade them and put peoples lives in danger on the road, suspected King of being under the influence of a mind altering drug.  HE was still uncooperative, and was lunging for one of their weapons, and the officers proceeded to use intense physical force, to stop him.  For some reason it took over 50 baton hits for the police to subdue and arrest the man.

During King's arrest, another man, George Holliday, was alerted by noises he heard outside of his nearby apartment window.  He ran, got his camera, and began to videotape what was happening outside on the road and in that moment was caught on video for the world the world to see, a suspect resisting arrest and the LAPD officers using extreme force. It was not long until the scene was being called “police brutality," and people suspecting that it was brutality "motivated by racial differences.” Other people, defending the police actions, said that it was simply indicative of the environment there is in working with criminals who just as soon take your life when you are working to uphold the law.


It spurred a huge debates as King was taken in to custody and the film went public in the media.  Eventually the case went to trial...  and on trial was the arresting officers.... who were charged with  assault.  

As it went public that the jury found the officers "not guilty" riots and looting broke out in the streets of LA, and that’s when Rodney King, the man in the car chase, the man who was beaten by police, made a famous appearance before television news cameras to plead for peace in the city... saying, "Can we get along here? Can we all get along?" It was a national crisis.

President Bush appeared on the television condemning the “terror and lawlessness” that broke out and vowed assistance to the governor and the mayor to restore order to the region making it clear that they would use whatever force was necessary to make peace happen in LA.

Two officers were eventually sentenced to thirty months in federal correctional camps, but the government appealed, arguing that the sentences were too light and violated federal sentencing guidelines.  In 1995, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the government's position and sent the case back to Judge Davies for the imposition of a tougher sentence.  After appeal to the Supreme Court the Ninth Circuit and upheld the sentence of Judge Davies and the original thirty-month sentence stood.


Rodney King, meanwhile, won a $3.8 million verdict from the City of Los Angeles and became the proud owner of Straight Alta-Pazz Recording Company.