Synopsis
A former L.A. police officer describes the institutionalized racism, brutality, and systematic manipulation of evidence that is rampant in the L.A.P.D., providing an insider's view of the corruption that exists at all levels of government. 35,000 first printing. Tour.
Reviews
As Owens, a private investigator who worked for the Rodney King defense, observes here: "Almost everyone associated with this case is now a former this or ex-that." The list includes L.A. police chief Daryl Gates and King's lawyer Steve Lerman--who has yet to compensate Owens. Milt Grimes, Lerman's replacement, has also been dilatory about paying Owens, resulting in a still unresolved suit and counter-suit. That element of griping, legitimate but ultimately tedious, pervades Owens's book, coauthored with Hollywood screenwriter Browning. Not surprisingly, there are no heroes: King is characterized as "self-destructive" and juvenile; the LAPD as callous; George Holliday, whose videotape of the 1991 beating thrust the case into the public eye, as intent on maximizing his video-licensing profits with myriad suits against TV stations that aired his tape without permission. Given the media coverage of the King case, one doubts that there are many readers who will learn anything new here, or even want to rake through these events again. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
An inside look at the Rodney King case, the ensuing trials, and the L.A. riots that followed, by the private detective hired by King's attorney to investigate the police officers' conduct and provide security for the beleaguered beating victim. A former L.A. policeman, Owens does not claim to tell ``the Rodney King story,'' but rather, with the help of Hollywood writer Browning, to give ``the factual version.'' In reviewing his own 12 years on the LAPD (he's oddly vague as to dates, when he resigned and why, what he did prior to opening his agency, etc.), he contends that the violence demonstrated by the officers that night in March 1991 is systemic, and that there is a ``code of silence'' that helps ``explain the attitudes of some of the officers'' caught in the act on George Holliday's now famous videotape. One of Owens' first moves was to find and interview the two men who were with King during the beating, both of whom sustained injuries inflicted by the police. He also discovered a second videotape, this one showing reactions of onlookers in the immediate aftermath of the beating. His background checks of the four officers revealed an array of charges of abuse and misconduct. Owens believes the ``not guilty'' verdicts in the Simi Valley criminal trial, which ignited the riots, came about because the jurors were desensitized from repeated viewing of the video: ``In the end [they] simply didn't believe their eyes...they believed the beating King got was justified.'' In fact, Owens encountered that attitude among members of his own staff. His probings met opposition from his former fellow officers, with the exception of ``Blue Throat,'' an unidentified person at LAPD who provided him with daily logs, arrest reports, etc. Not an apologist for King, Owens does not view him ``as a hero'' but as ``a victim whose victimization continues.'' His opinions as a former cop are of some interest, as are his personal insight into King and the entire affair. But Owens allows amateur psychological conjecture to intrude on his day-to-day, procedural work on the case. (Eight pages b&w insert--not seen) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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