Angry Callers Flood Times Switchboard

Shortly after verdicts were read in the Rodney G. King beating trial, callers from across the country flooded the Los Angeles Times switchboard--most with angry comments on the outcome. The calls came from as far away as Michigan, Idaho and Texas, and from local residents in Compton, the San Fernando Valley and Orange County.

Most asked that their names not be used. Here is a sampling:

* A caller from Hayden Lake, Ida., said: “I am a white, middle-class Mormon woman and I am totally outraged at the verdict on the Rodney King beating.”

* Irene Shandell, a federal worker from Compton, said that her 23-year-old daughter cried when she heard the verdict and that her two other teen-agers were angry. “I think it was an outrage. What they are doing is inciting a riot. In your wildest dreams, you never would have thought they would come back with this verdict. Now I fear for my children and for my community.”

* A caller who agreed with the verdict congratulated the officers. “I believe they were absolutely right. I saw the tape and I felt they were wrong. But I watched the trial from Day 1 and certainly learned a lot of things that were not presented in the tape.”

* Vivian Pennington of Albuquerque, N.M., said she and her husband were stunned. “We are totally outraged that those officers could be found not guilty in the face of all of that evidence. What does it take in Los Angeles to get a guilty verdict? I’m just outraged and angry.”

* A realty agent from San Jose said: “I think it’s shocking. I’m concerned for my fellow Californians who live in the Los Angeles area who are subject to this kind of behavior by the police.”

* A teacher from Flint, Mich., warned that the verdict could lead to racial friction. “It is obvious that these policemen brutally beat this man and there is no reason to brutally beat a citizen anywhere. . . . I think we have set ourselves up for civil war all over again.”

* A caller who lauded the verdict blamed the prosecution of the officers on Mayor Tom Bradley. “He was using these policemen for his own political gain to take over the Police Department himself. . . . I am completely outraged.”

* A Petaluma woman said that “as a white person, I am extremely upset. I am outraged, disgusted, saddened about the fact that this is happening in America. It’s unspeakable.”

* A woman caller said the verdict vindicated the officers: “I think these policeman already served a lot of punishment and time, so I prayed and prayed and lit candles at Mass all the way to the end, and I’m grateful it ended that way.”

* A caller from Maine said: “I don’t know how anybody can look at this and not have something to say about this. The whole country is up in arms about this (verdict).”

* Harley Spoon of Waco, Tex. said he was embarrassed and shocked: “I think it’s going to make (police) think they have a license to bump people upside the head with billy clubs. I’ve lived through that kind of stuff in my part of the country. We’re ahead of that now. I’m kind of disappointed in Los Angeles justice.”