Rodney King Trial

Sergeant Koon spoke to reporters at the National Press Club to discuss his new book Presumed Guilty: The Tragedy of the Rodney King Affair, on the trial of four Los Angeles police officers charged with the beating of a black suspect during an arrest which a bystander recorded on videotape. When the four officers were acquitted of the beating in May of 1992, riots broke out in the streets of Los Angeles to protest the verdict. Sergeant Koon had been the supervising officer at the scene of the arrest of the black suspect Rodney King. During his presentation, Sergeant Koon showed the videotape of the arrest on a television in the room, and discussed the actions of the people depicted on the tape while the tape played in slow motion.