The L.A. Riots | 1. The Tape
Slow Burn
Slate Audio
4.6 • 25.2K Ratings
🗓️ 3 November 2021
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the night of March 2nd, 1991, at a remote intersection just outside of L.A., four police officers surrounded an unarmed Black man. They struck him 56 times with their batons before arresting him.
Across the street, standing on his second-floor balcony, a bystander named George Holliday recorded the scene on his home video camera.
This is what happened after the camera stopped rolling.
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Season 6 of Slow Burn is produced by Joel Anderson, Jayson De Leon, Ethan Brooks, Sophie Summergrad, and Jasmine Ellis.
Mixing by Merritt Jacob.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Rodney King was looking to celebrate. It was Saturday night, March 2nd, 1991, and he'd just gotten a new job. King was a high school dropout and had spent time in prison for armed robbery. He didn't have an easy time finding work. |
| 0:15.9 | Well, he was turning his life around. He was in the union during construction. That's Johnny Kelly, one of King's best friends. |
| 0:23.7 | So he had a good thing going. He was looking forward to that. He loved construction. |
| 0:28.5 | Johnny Kelly didn't make it out that night. So King got together with two other friends, |
| 0:33.7 | Freddie Helms and Bryant-Dowen. They watched basketball and drank malt liquor, just another slow evening in Alta Dena, |
| 0:40.3 | a quiet area north of Los Angeles. |
| 0:46.3 | Around midnight, King decided he wanted to take his friends to a park. |
| 0:50.3 | It was a spot where he used to hang out with his father. |
| 0:53.3 | So he got behind the wheel of his four-door Hyundai Excel. |
| 0:56.0 | Helmset shotgun, Alan was in the backseat. |
| 0:59.0 | They were still buzzing off their 40s. |
| 1:02.0 | King headed west on Interstate 210, picking up speed as he drove. |
| 1:10.0 | A few minutes later, the white Hyundai caught the attention of two California Highway Patrol officers, |
| 1:15.6 | a husband and wife team, Tim and Melanie Singer. |
| 1:19.6 | We're up to about 65 on foot hill approaching Osborne. |
| 1:23.6 | That's Tim Ford, copy. Now going about 60. |
| 1:26.6 | That's Tim calling in the police dispatch. That's Tim calling in to police dispatch. |
| 1:29.3 | Melanie was driving their patrol car. |
| 1:31.3 | It appears to be three male blacks in the vehicle. |
| 1:34.3 | It's a white Hyundai, I believe. |
| 1:37.3 | The singers saw King driving erratically, apparently speeding. |
| 1:42.3 | They also noted that the two passengers weren't wearing |
... |
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