Official Negligence : How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD [Paperback]

Lou Cannon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999

In the Spring of 1992 five days of rioting laid waste to South Central Los Angeles, took scores of lives, cost the city more than $900 million in property damages and captured the attention of horrified people worldwide. Lou Cannon, veteran journalist, combines extensive research with interviews from hundreds of survivors, offering the only definitive story behind what happened and why.Official Negligence takes a hard look at the circumstances leading up to the riots. Cannon reveals how the videotape of the brutal beating of Rodney King had been sensationally edited by a local TV station, how political leaders required LAPD officers to carry metal batons despite evidence linking them to the rising toll of serious injury in the community, and how poorly prepared the city was for the violence that erupted.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Washington Post journalist Cannon believes that the four Los Angeles Police Department officers prosecuted in 1992 for beating black motorist Rodney King "were scapegoats for the Los Angeles riots" that followed the not-guilty verdicts in their first trial. Readers may recall the videotape of the King arrest, but Cannon reveals that a crucial portion?favorable to the officers?was deleted from the version shown on national television. The LAPD's reputation has been badly tarnished by the King case, the riots in which 54 died, and the Simpson trial (mentioned only briefly here), and Cannon faults the city's political, judicial, and police leadership. Although any analysis of the racial and ethnic conflicts confronting Los Angeles is bound to be controversial, this exhaustively detailed book, while repetitive at times, is an essential part of the debate. Recommended.?Gregor A. Preston, formerly with the Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

This reporter's ambitious reconstruction of the Rodney King case presents a sobering image, not just of Los Angeles, but of judicial mayhem and political exploitation. Cannon (President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, 1991, etc.) was L.A. bureau chief of the Washington Post from 1990 to 1993. He repeatedly says that the beating of Rodney King was a Rashomon-like event in which every observer came away with a different perception of even the bare facts. Cannon's chronicle of the legal and political saga--from the night of the beating through the trial of the rioters who attacked Reginald Denny--is almost entirely drawn from the point of view of police officers. Within this particular framework, it is certainly authoritative, though the reader will almost always be nagged by a feeling of not having the whole story. He does show that the King incident was not representative of what it's like to be a suspect in the hands of the LAPD, and that only because it was videotaped did the world take it to be so. Cannon's masterful narrative, with tight control over its vast scope and incredible detail, overflows his own restriced frame, allowing readers copious material with which to weigh his implicit conviction regarding the innocence of the officers of the charges brought against them, and the LAPD's (and the judicial system's) broader guilt- -the ``negligence'' of the title (such as lack of training of police officers in the proper use of the baton to subdue a suspect). He creates an often complicated but always crystal-clear chronicle, seeming to recount years of turmoil almost minute-by-minute. Along with the major players, every juror and witness is introduced with extensive biographical background. Seemingly small legal issues and lawyerly subtexts of the trials are zealously pursued; by the time Cannon gets to the Denny trial, readers may be exhausted, but they will have achieved some clarity. As indispensable as it is incomplete. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 2nd edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813337259
• ISBN-13: 978-0813337258
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #777,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A tremendous job of reporting that challenges and provokes. May 24, 1998

By "eriknorm"

Format:Hardcover

An outstanding piece of reporting that takes the long view of the effects of the Rodney King trial and subsequent events, "Official Negligence" makes some fresh points about a sequence of episodes most people are tired of talking about. Of the fascinating cast of characters profiled in this book, the only one who emerges as anything approaching a hero is perhaps the least likely candidate: Stacy Koon, the sergeant who oversaw the original arrest of King and was later convicted of violating King's civil rights. Cannon's argument, at root, is that it is highly debateable whether a crime was committed in Pasadena in March, 1991, when King was pulled over and eventually beaten, and that racial animosity played virtually no role in the event. What is NOT debateable, according to Cannon, is the "official negligence" of the L.A. city council, Mayor Tom Bradley, the L.A. court system, and the LAPD leadership that produced the poorly trained officers who originally confronted King and the subsequent chaos that engulfed Los Angeles. Cannon is a terrific reporter who refuses to engage in policy prescriptions, but he does an outstanding job of detailing the sequence of communication breakdowns, judicial fiat, local political arrogance and LAPD miscalculations that produced an environment where riots were a natural consequence. The only (minor) flaw is a sense of repetition that suggests another editorial pass at the manuscript would have been useful, but overall, "Official Negligence" is an absolutely compelling read that will, despite whatever preconceptions you have of Rodney King, the LAPD, or the causes of the 1992 riots, challenge your preconceptions and force a rethinking of basic assumptions surrounding law enforcement, urban America, and Los Angeles.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars CNN Headline News + Film Every Five Minutes = Injustice April 9, 2002

By J. Reynolds

Format:Paperback

Echoing sentiments expressed by other reviewers, I wholly concur after reading "Official Negligence" that negligent, inflammatory US media reporting, abetted by the jump-to-conclusion negligence of the Los Angeles Police Department, significantly and overwhelmingly warped public perception of the Rodney King affair and propagated the worst riots in recent history.

Taken in the context of the entire story, as reported in "Official Negligence," the police officers were racially railroaded and politically double-jeopardized by a media/legal system that -- once it had seen the film excerpt -- truly never wanted to make any further effort to learn the facts of the case.

This is an important book to read, if for no other reason than to keep you alert from now forward when watching television news. They're going to show you what SELLS, and not necessarily what TELLS.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading for Politicians&Police Managers June 20, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

Lou Cannon has put together an account of the culture and climate within the city of Los Angeles preceding the Rodney King incident and the ensuing riots that really hits the mark. As a person who was directly involved in law enforcemnt during the period the book focuses on, I thought I had the entire King incident and riots figured out. on the contrary, I was completely blindsided by the information in this book. Cannon has done his homework and has put together a shocking and revealing account of the King incident, trial and years leading up to it. I would strongly recommend this book to anybody interested in the history of L.A., it's police department and political climate. It should be required reading for all Police recruits, lawyers, politicians and managers.