A soft-spoken Rodney King testified for the first time about his videotaped beating and brought race to the forefront of the federal civil rights trial, accusing police of taunting him with racial slurs.
"We're going to kill you, nigger. Run!" King said an officer shouted.The black motorist admitted Tuesday he was drunk and speeding the night of March 3, 1991, and he said he fled police because he was afraid of going back to prison.
But he said that police clubbed and shocked him needlessly after he pulled over and that he dodged blows because "I was trying to stay alive." He said he didn't obey orders to lie still because "they never gave me a chance to stay still."
When he awoke the next morning in the hospital, he said, "I was wondering what did I do to deserve that type of pain?"
Cross-examination had just begun when Tuesday's court session recessed. King returned to the stand Wednesday.
The lawyers for the four police officers accused of violating King's civil rights contend the motorist brought the beating upon himself by jumping up and charging a police officer, then continuing to move as blows rained down on him.
Asked by prosecutor Barry Kowalski whether he had attacked an officer, King said, "No, sir. I was trying to stay alive, sir, trying to stay alive."
King raised his voice as he imitated officers he said he heard chanting: "Killer, nigger, how do you feel, killer?" But King acknowledged he wasn't absolutely sure if the word used was "nigger" or "killer."
His claims of racial taunting brought the issue of race to the forefront of the federal case, which follows a state trial that ended in the officers' acquittal and an outbreak of rioting that left more than 50 people dead.
Prosecutors have not pressed the racial issue in court. U.S. District Judge John G. Davies has ruled that racial animosity need not be proven in the case.
Outside court, defense attorney Harland Braun noted that no other witness had reported hearing racial epithets, and he said King couldn't be believed.
"His case will rest and fall on the question of whether there were any racial epithets," Braun said.
It was the first public airing of King's version of the story known worldwide because of the videotape shot by an onlooker. King wasn't called to testify in the state trial.
"He looked very good," defense lawyer Michael Stone said. He described King as "mild-mannered, polite and thoughtful."Officers Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno and Timothy Wind and Sgt. Stacey Koon could get up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 fines.
Under questioning by the prosecution, the 27-year-old King told of his criminal record as a robber and his stint in prison. He said he had too much to drink before he went for a drive with two passengers.
When a California Highway Patrol car began following him, King said, he was speeding, perhaps going 75 mph to 80 mph. He said he didn't initially stop because he was afraid of going back to prison.
Once he did stop, King said, he obeyed commands and fell to the ground face down. He said he felt a blow to his head, then officers pounced on him.
"At that point, when my hands were behind my back, one of them applied pressure like he was trying to snap my wrist in half and I went, `Aaaah!' he said.
"I heard, `Back!" and they all backed away from me," he said. Seconds later, he said, he was struck with an electronic stun gun dart. "It felt like my blood was boiling inside of me."
*****
(Chart)
New assertions
Rodney King's long-awaited testimony offered some new assertions. Among them:
- King said an officer shouted, "We're going to kill you, nigger. Run!"
- As he was beaten, King said, he heard police chanting either "killer" or "nigger."
- He said he led police on a car chase because, as a parolee, he feared being sent back to prison.
- He said he couldn't hear police sirens because his radio was blaring and he and friends were singing along.
- He said he repeatedly tried to comply with police orders to lie still in a prone position but "they never gave me a chance to stay still."
- He said he never shook his behind at a California Highway Patrol officer as she alleged at the defendants' trial in state court.
- He said he has never used PCP and couldn't understand why officers told hospital officials he was under the influence of the hallucinogen.
- He said shocks from a stun gun made him feel "like my blood was boiling inside of me." Police said he seemed unaffected.