Cleaning Up Riot Aftermath
The King beating was a dirty shame. As the jury said, it was not a crime as charged: assault with a deadly weapon. A baton blow deliberately aimed at the head (which is required to make a baton deadly) would have been a crime; none were delivered. So our system of justice works, rabble-rousers like Tom Bradley notwithstanding.
Media coverage seems to me a dirtier shame and a larger problem with more, further reaching, more detrimental and more predictable consequences. Moreover, while the four officers violated their trust and training, media bigwigs deliberately sought fame, fortune, power, or political advantage (or whatever), promulgating contempt for our justice system in response to reason, not to boiling emotion.
I don’t want media circuses controlled by ham-handed government. They’d better get mature some other way, quickly.
JAMES D. THACKREY
Santa Ana
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