Platform : Jury’s Award to Rodney King: Fair or Not?

Last Tuesday, a jury awarded Rodney G. King $3.8 million in compensatory damages for the beating he sustained at the hands of Los Angeles police officers more than three years ago. The jury will next decide whether to award King punitive damages. Was the award fair or too much or too little? According to the people we talked with, Southern Californians are divided.

LARRY ZARIAN

City Councilman and former mayor, Glendale

I have two feelings about the jury award. First, Rodney King did not deserve the punishment. It’s not up to law enforcement officers to decide someone’s punishment, even if that person is driving 100 or 200 miles an hour, and even if they are drunk or on drugs. As long as they are not about to kill anyone, their punishment is for the courts to decide.

But at the same time, should he receive $3.8 million? I say absolutely not. I don’t think you should ever put a price on a crime. In our system, when a person does something wrong--and that includes a policeman--he should go to jail.

I can see paying for King’s medical expenses and loss of work. But $3.8 million is absurd. Punishing the officers was enough.

CLIFFORD BERNARD

Apartment manager, videotaped beating aftermath

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I think the award was pretty decent. It could have been better but I think there was also a chance Rodney King could have gotten zero.

As for collecting damages from individual officers, I think his attorneys are pushing for that. I personally feel he’s gotten a good deal. But punitive damages could be a deterrent when police know they could be sued. If he does get damages from them I think the individuals should pay it themselves and not the city.

There were a lot of officers out there that night but many weren’t involved in the beating. I only videotaped the part where Rodney King was already hogtied down on the ground. I didn’t see the beating itself or hear anyone call him (a racial slur). I just heard the officers laughing while he was on the ground. Many people there that night have never gotten a chance to testify.

MEHEE KIM

Director, Korean-American Grocers

Victims Assn., Los Angeles

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It’s really hard for anyone to assess the trauma and pain Rodney King suffered, so I feel the jury award was probably reasonable. Our community realizes Rodney King didn’t cause the riots (in 1992).

Some people in our community may feel the jury award was unfair. Merchants and others who suffered losses when their stores were burned and looted have never had compensation.

As for the individual officers, it would be reasonable for them to take responsibility for their actions by paying damages, but how much can they afford to lose?

JOHN SELEINE

Retired corporate financial officer,

Seal Beach

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I have no sympathy for the way the LAPD handled King, but the dollar amount given him by the jury was ridiculous. I realize most of it goes to attorneys, but we must remember King started it . It’s not as if you and I were walking down the street and they assaulted us.

The trial to see if individual officers should pay damages is also ridiculous. I certainly don’t support the officers--I agree they acted wrong--but I think they should be fired and denied benefits, and Rodney King shouldn’t be a beneficiary.

I do believe King deserves medical expenses, because the thing was just brutal, but $3.8 million is ridiculous. If Rodney King lives to be 105 he could never earn that. And that is coming out of our taxes.

Should the city pay for the individuals? Management is supposed to back up its employees if something happens while they are doing their jobs. But in this case they were going way beyond that. On the other hand, if management (the city and LAPD) is aware something is going on, and endorses it by doing nothing, this implies approval. When that’s the case, management, not the officers, should pay.

KAROL HEPPE

Executive director, Police Watch, a private group that monitors law enforcement, Los Angeles

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The judgment is yet another case in which a jury has validated the charge that law enforcement was out of control. This type of payment, taken out of our tax money, should have a deterrent effect, but it hasn’t yet.

City officials continue to write checks without looking behind them to ask why, or to create a system of police accountability. I believe the solution is an independent prosecutor and a civilian review board with the power to investigate and bring charges against officers.

SWEET ALICE HARRIS

Founder and director, Parents of Watts

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To whip that young man Rodney King like he was whipped is not the job of an officer--so sure the award is fair. Even if the jury had given more, Rodney King would have deserved it, and so would anyone who was whipped that way.

The individual officers should also pay for doing wrong. They are not the only police who treat people like that. I’ve been living in Watts for 45 years, and I’ve seen so much injustice. I’ve seen officers beat young men something terrible. But when we tried to tell people nobody believed us.

That’s why it was a blessing from God that Rodney King’s beating was videotaped and shown. And if officers know they themselves have to pay, I think they’re going to stop doing that kind of thing so much.

Young people today don’t take what we used to take. And the reason a lot of them have so much meanness inside is because of the way they’ve been treated, or seen their brothers and even their mothers get beaten up by police.

TOM OWENS

Former private investigator for King and author of “Lying Eyes,” a book about the beating aftermath.

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I don’t think the award was fair. The amount doesn’t address some of the long-term considerations Rodney King is facing. For example, he will need to hire security people for the next several years because of the many death threats against him. In addition, his future medical bills could be quite high. The verdict said to city officials: “There’s something wrong here and we don’t want to see it again.”

I was a police officer for 20 years, including 12 years with the LAPD. I believe excessive-force judgments against individual officers are a good way to put police on notice. But that’s only if the officers pay from their own pockets. If the city pays, then what lesson will they have learned?