The Rodney King Riot: What Happened at Florence and Normandie?
Last week, both our host and I posted on the Los Angeles Times’s shameful editorial published on the occasion of former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates’s death. I presented my thoughts at Pajamas Media. The online comments to that piece largely became a debate on the Rodney King riot and its origins, with retired LAPD Lieutenant Michael Moulin on one side and a number of LAPD officers, past and present, on the other. Michael Moulin was the night watch commander at 77th Street Division on April 29, 1992, and it was he who made the decision not to send police officers to the intersection of Florence and Normandie as the rioting erupted. Moulin defends that decision to this day.
Today I have a new piece on Pajamas Media in which I explore the events of that fateful afternoon 18 years ago. You can read it here.
UPDATE: A quote from the PJM piece to spark your interest: “If Michael Moulin had been in command of a platoon on D-Day, he never would have made it off the beach.”
Thank you for your comments and alerting us to them.
I think the following is pretty damning:
Discussing that day’s events with Nightline, Moulin said, “I don’t know who was running the show. And I don’t think anyone can tell you who was running the show. The show was kind of just running itself.”
I don’t see how anyone above a new recruit could get away with saying “the show was running itself”.
It’s very interesting to see what many would consider evidence of a problem too big to deal with (“racial tension in America”) as the direct outgrowth of one person’s mistakes. No Congressional panels or new laws should have been necessary to pontificate on the issue.
I was interested in your comments that “when immediate tactical decisions are required, almost no one above the rank of sergeant is qualified to make them”. Is that something specific to LA, or generalized to all large departments, do you think? I know my son in the Philly PD was at one incident that was a 3 way face down between two rival groups of Black Muslims and a group of Black Hebrews that was the outcome of an assault a few days before. I do believe it was a sergeant (the biggest and most intimidating) who was in charge at the seen calming things down.
Perhaps this is not the place or time, or you’ve dealt with it elsewhere time, but I have some additional questions, if I may.
At what point did Gates or someone else “high up” in the command structure become informed of the situation and what was done then?
Were there sergeants and others under Moulin’s command who disagreed with him and vocalized it at the time? I can see how many would have wanted to back Moulin, as to back Moulin was to justify their own lack of response at the time.
I don’t know what the gun laws are in CA or LA, I imagine “liberal and strict”. But whether legal or not, any opinion (impossible to know) on what might have happened had Tarvin or Denny had a hand gun for self defense?
MD in Philly (0f793a) — 4/26/2010 @ 9:56 amThis was handled all wrong. Maybe King should have been shot by the Female CHP officer for resisting arrest. I know the rioters and looters should have been shot on sight.
Warren Christopher and the Democrat party killed LA after the riots. There is no fairness or an ordered system of law after they ruined both the judicial system and Police department.
I both offered my Anaheim home to any Korean family burned out by the rioters, and was in my front yard armed with a shotgun loaded with alternating buck shot and deer slugs. A retired cop did the same 2 doors down. We had no problems at all.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 4/26/2010 @ 9:57 amMost forget that over half the arrests were Latinos. This was an opportunity for criminals and looters, nothing more. One very sad outcome is that people stayed home for years, afterward. Restaurants, bars, clubs, and nightlife in general really declined as people did not feel safe in public.
TimesDisliker (28e61d) — 4/26/2010 @ 10:19 amMD in Philly, with respect to gun laws in California, possession of a loaded handgun by Tarvin or Denny would have been prosecutable as either a misdemeanor or a felony. CCW permits are available in California, especially Los Angeles, only for political hacks, friends of the Chief of Police or movie stars.
SPQR (26be8b) — 4/26/2010 @ 10:27 amThanks Jack, although I lived in California at the time and watched the beating and the riots on TV, I never heard any mention of Moulin’s role. The tape of Damian (I thought his street name was ‘Monster”) Williams attempting to murder Reginald Denny sickened me.
I have a question: Did anyone anticipate the possibility of civil unrest if the verdict exonerated the cops who beat Rodney King? I’m not claiming someone should have anticipated trouble, I’m asking if anyone realized the potential for violence and tried to alert the authorities in advance.
ropelight (cdb4d0) — 4/26/2010 @ 10:29 amGates did, and was criticized by the “Black Leadership” in the City for attempting to escalate tensions within the community (Thank You, Mark Ridley Thomas).
AD - RtR/OS! (69f893) — 4/26/2010 @ 10:34 amI think then he just walked away from the buzz-saw.
Comment by SPQR
Thank you. When guns are outlawed, only outlaws…
MD in Philly (0f793a) — 4/26/2010 @ 10:54 amIt is overtly racist of you to disagree with Teh Narrative. That is all.
JD (959071) — 4/26/2010 @ 11:08 amMoulin is in the comments section at PJM. And what a piece of crap he reveals himself to be.
Subotai (88d450) — 4/26/2010 @ 11:26 amWhen I left CA it was common knowledge that you could get a CCW from the Kern Co. Sheriff.
I’ve had a question all these years. Where did the bricks and rocks come from at Florence and Normandie?? I believe this was a planned riot and the LA government and courts looked the other way.
One consequence of this event was Rodney King was able to drive drunk at will and commit any other crime he pleased because he felt the protection of the Liberal Democrats and Liberal Democrat appointed judges, and the cops knew it, too. Drunken Rodney crashed his car into the parking lot light standards in Orange, CA, and the cops wanted no part of arresting him.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 4/26/2010 @ 11:37 amFor anyone that is interested in the King subject, you might grab a copy of “Official Negligence” by Lou Cannon.
Andrew (057d27) — 4/26/2010 @ 11:54 amA great read that covers the LAPD, the King arrest, both King trials, and of course the riots.
Also covers the soft politicians both inside and outside the LAPD.
Pretty detailed, and suprisingly even handed.
…sorry, guess I should have looked at the PJM article first….
Andrew (057d27) — 4/26/2010 @ 11:55 amMaybe Moulin is French? He sounds like a cheese eating surrender monkey.
jkstewart2 (c48d38) — 4/26/2010 @ 12:43 pmi’ve never understood why the folks in the vehicles didn’t just hit the gas and head on out, light or no light, and without being overly concerned for the mob standing in front of them…
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 4/26/2010 @ 12:47 pmRed, conditioning. They were conditioned to obey the law. The animals in the intersection didn’t care, period.
A piece of garbage like Moulin could only thrive in a PD when Liberal Democrats are actively destroying it.
Anyone got recordings of George Putnam at the time?
Moulin may think he’s stressed not, but he’s not Adrian Monk, and God will not judge him lightly.
Moulin, I know Tony Shaloub in real life. You are no Monk or a real person for that matter.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 4/26/2010 @ 12:53 pmTangential to the riots, I’ll recommend the book by Sgt. Koon. I had to look it up: Presumed Guilty: The Tragedy of the Rodney King Affair.
cm smith (9f3ad8) — 4/26/2010 @ 5:53 pmThe Rodney King riots were mostly looting and theft although some people got killed. The Watts riots, in 1965, were a more serious insurrection. The surgery service at LA County got 274 (Approximately) gunshot wounds of the torso in 48 hours. Lots more of arms, legs and head. The surgery department called in all faculty members, most of whom were in private practice in those days. They ran the ORs 24 hours a day for five days and lost only two victims. One woman had tried to run a National Guard check point and was machine gunned. She had a car trunk full of Molotov cocktails. She refused all care. The other died a month postop.
Pretty good for a civilian facility.
In 1992-93, I had a niece living in Hollywood near the riots while she went to USC. I called her that night to see if she was OK and to encourage her to come down and stay with us. She told me that some guys had just come into her apartment building and told everybody they were going to burn down the furniture store next door at 9. If anybody wanted anything, they should be out front ten minutes early.
The King riots were mostly about looting.
Mike K (2cf494) — 4/26/2010 @ 6:43 pmAn absolutely compelling article. Well done.
DRJ (09fa6c) — 4/26/2010 @ 7:48 pmJack, if you’re looking for another project, have a look into the Isla Vista riots. UCSB student Kevin Moran was shot in the head by a Santa Barbara police officer, who claimed he didn’t know his 30-’06 had discharged until hours later when he opened the chamber and found an empty shell case.
When he turned the rifle in it had a faulty safety. That became his defense, and it worked. There was a brass plaque to mark the passing of Kevin Moran in front of the rebuilt Bank of American location. After the bank closed a few years later the building was used for a bar. If you’re interested, I can point the way, there’s more.
ropelight (5b604f) — 4/27/2010 @ 4:42 pm