Lying Eyes: The Truth Behind the Corruption and Brutality of the Lapd and the Beating of Rodney King [Hardcover]

Tom Owens (Author), Rod Browning (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1994

A scathing indictment of the Los Angeles Police Department and its role in the Rodney King case. An ex-marine and ex-cop reveals the difficult truths he discovered and enormous changes he underwent in his two-year investigation of police misconduct in L.A. 8-page photo insert.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.

From Kirkus Reviews

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Pr; 1st edition (April 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560250747
• ISBN-13: 978-1560250746
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,144,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars in-depth knowledge of a man who worked with rodney king, April 17, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Queens, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lying Eyes: The Truth Behind the Corruption and Brutality of the Lapd and the Beating of Rodney King (Hardcover)

I was generally glued to this book, although the technicalities of the workings of the LAPD left me lost or vacant, at times. I had the rare occasion to work with the author for six weeks during an Army public relations tour in Nicaragua, and his insights into life in the LAPD and life, as a cop, in general, furthered to set the stage for the book. Tom Owens is a well-read, knowledgeable man in workings of life as a private dectective and cop. I wouldn't want him investigating me!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard-hitting look at the Rodney King Case, January 10, 2002

By 

John W. Crockett (Huntington Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lying Eyes: The Truth Behind the Corruption and Brutality of the Lapd and the Beating of Rodney King (Hardcover)

This book doesn't pull any punches in reporting the facts surrounding the Rodney King case, the incident that led to it, and what happened afterward. As a former LAPD officer and a private investigator, the book's author, Tom Owens gives an objective look at one of the most contraversial cases in our nation's history, reporting the facts that he collected.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A factual presentation, November 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Lying Eyes: The Truth Behind the Corruption and Brutality of the Lapd and the Beating of Rodney King (Hardcover)

A Taste of reality, set in the days of Mississippi, and for the southern states. Man's Inhumanity to Man kind.