Excerpts of Testimony on Chase and Beating

Here are excerpts from Rodney G. King’s testimony Tuesday, under questioning by federal prosecutors, at the trial of four officers charged in his beating.

King discusses the events leading to the police chase that ended with his beating:

“I was over to (friend) Bryant Allen’s house and I had been drinking over there. We were watching a basketball game. . . . I know I had too much. . . . “I was speeding . . . at 75 or 80. . . . I wasn’t watching the speedometer. . . .

“I noticed a car’s headlights were approaching my car. . . . It as a police car and it wanted me to pull over.”

King explains why he didn’t stop:

“I was scared of going back to prison. . . . I didn’t pull over right away. . . . I don’t remember if I was speeding or not (during the chase). I know I stopped at all the stop signs and looked both ways and went through them. . . .”

King describes his arrest:

“I was ordered to put my hands where I could see them. . . . I put my hands on the steering wheel. . . . I was ordered to open the car door from the outside. . . .

“I put my hands on top of the car. . . . It was like more than one (police) command was being given to me at that time. . . . They said ‘Put your hands on the top of the car’ and someone else said ‘No, no, no, put your hands on the hood of the car.’ . . .

“I was facing the pavement, I was talking into the floor, the ground. . . . One of them applied pressure like he was trying to snap my wrist in half. . . . They all backed away from me and I’m still on the ground waiting to be handcuffed and shortly after that I was shocked by a Taser.”

King elaborates on his beating:

“I got shocked and it felt like my blood was boiling inside of me. . . .

“When I was shocked, I just laid down and just, uh, it was hard to do anything. I just kinda laid down and took it. I was hoping it would go away shortly. . . .

“Finally the shocking had stopped and my blood seemed like it was starting to come back. And, uh, they asked me, ‘How do you feel now?’ . . . I had been struck to the face area and it was hard to even breathe and I just tried to laugh it off. . . .

“I was coughing and laughing blood out of my mouth. . . . I didn’t want them to get the satisfaction of what they were doing to me.

“They said, ‘We’re going to kill you nigger, run.’ . . .

“I ran closer to the Hyundai and I was struck across the right side of the face again. . . . To this day there is a bump right here (points to his right temple). . . .

“I’m not exactly sure, but I heard while they were hitting me chants of ‘Killer, nigger, how do you feel killer?’ . . .

“I’m not absolutely sure which word it was. If it was killer or nigger. I’m not sure. . . . “I was trying to put my hands over my face. I wasn’t trying to hit any police officer. . . .

“My whole body was struck, all parts of my body. . . . There was an enormous amount of pain.”

King denies attacking officers:

“I was trying to stay alive, sir, trying to stay alive, and they never gave me a chance to stay still. I never had a chance to stay still.”

King talks about the days after the beating:

“I woke up in the jail ward. My whole body was hurting and I was very confused. I knew I had been beaten by police but I wasn’t sure about what happened. . . .

“I couldn’t move my arms and it hurt when I would try to move any part of my body. My head felt real hot. I was having an enormous amount of headaches. . . .

“I had sores all over my body from being struck with the baton. . . .

“I was having trouble remembering exactly what went on but I know for sure I was attacked by police officers. . . .

“Physically I felt horrible. I felt in lots of pain and I just was wondering what did I do to deserve that type of pain. . . .”

King testifies about the beating video, which he said he has watched about 10 times:

“It’s sickening to see it. It makes me sick to my stomach to watch it.”