Trucker Beaten by Rioters Improves

Reginald O. Denny, the white truck driver who was savagely beaten by rioters and rescued by four black strangers, was making “a remarkable recovery” Sunday, his doctors said.

Denny, who suffered head injuries that his doctor likened to being “in a 55-to-65-m.p.h. car crash without a seat belt,” remained in serious but stable condition at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital. He was able to move his hands and feet and was well enough to scribble several notes to his family.

“The last thing I remember is driving my 18-wheeler down Florence toward Railroad Street,” he wrote in two-inch-high letters. “We have a concrete plant there. I was delivering the rock and sand. Be careful around here. I don’t know what happened. . . . I think I was clubbed.”

The beating, which was videotaped and broadcast throughout the nation, showed black men yanking Denny from his truck and repeatedly kicking and beating him. The image became a symbol of the rage that ripped through the city in the hours after the announcement of not guilty verdicts in the police beating of Rodney G. King.

Doctors said that Denny, 36, was moments from death when he arrived at the hospital and that the rescue by four black residents saved his life.

Doctors said he must undergo reconstructive surgery to the bones on the left side of his face, which were crushed when a fire extinguisher was hurled onto his head. Doctors have not been able to thoroughly test for neurological damage.

In a tearful exchange at the hospital, Denny’s former wife presented two rescuers, T. J. Murphy and Tee Barnett, with a bouquet of flowers. The hospital and family have been swamped with thousands of calls from well-wishers.

“They did not see color, they simply saw compassion for humanity,” said Rick Montez, Denny’s former brother-in-law.

The hospital has started a trust fund for Denny and 24 other patients who were injured in the riots. Cards and donations can be sent to: The Reginald Denny Fund, Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital Foundation, 333 N. Prairie Ave., Inglewood, Calif. 90301.