To the editor: In 1991, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Daryl F. Gates called for officers involved in the beating of Rodney King to face discipline or felony prosecution.
Nevertheless, a Simi Valley jury disregarded that fact, the video of the beating, the skull fractures, the broken leg and King’s fractured cheekbone, and it acquitted four officers of assault and three of excessive force. It deadlocked on the fourth officer’s excessive force charge.
On Monday, a New York City jury deadlocked on a manslaughter charge and acquitted Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide. Jordan Neely, a man with untreated mental health issues, raged, menaced and threatened passengers on a subway train. Penny choked Neely from behind and maintained that hold for six minutes, killing Neely. The gross and graphic video was played in court.
The jury resoundingly sanctioned Neely’s choking death. After all, he was mentally ill and homeless, and he used synthetic marijuana.
This is making alive political scientist Andrew Hacker’s 1992 book, “Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal.”
Marc D. Greenwood, Opelika, Ala.
