The attack on Reginald Denny was an incident in the 1992 Los Angeles riots in which Reginald Denny, a white construction truck driver, was beaten almost to death by a group of blacks who came to be known as " LA Four ". The attack was captured on video by news helicopter, and broadcast live on US national television.
Video Attack on Reginald Denny
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On March 3, 1991, a plumber salesman and amateur videographer named George Holliday recorded a video of Rodney King's rider at the end of a police pursuit, beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officials. The anger resulting from the release of these police officers was the main cause of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Maps Attack on Reginald Denny
Attack
On April 29, 1992, at 17:39, Denny loaded his red trash truck with 27 tons of sand and started driving to a factory in Inglewood, where the sand was due. He left the Santa Monica Toll and took a familiar shortcut on Florence Avenue to get to the destination. His truck has no radio, so he does not realize that he's driving into a riot. At 6:46 pm, after entering the intersection in Normandie, the rioters threw rocks at his window, and he heard people shouting for him to stop, forcing him to do so halfway. Antoine Miller climbed up and opened the truck door, giving the unknown man a chance to pull Denny out and throw him to the ground. Henry Watson stood in Denny's neck to hold him when a group of people surrounded him and Anthony Brown kicked him in the stomach. Miller searched Denny's back pocket before boarding the truck and running with a stolen bag. When Watson left, two other unknown men joined the attack: one threw a five-pound oxygenator stolen from a Larry Tarvin truck on Denny's head, and the other kicked him and hit him with a claw hammer. As Denny struggles to his feet, Damian Williams throws a piece of brick to the side of his head, which makes him faint. Williams pointed and laughed at Denny, performed a triumphant dance on the street, and posted gang signs on news helicopters, including Robert Tur and his wife, Marika Gerrard, who was broadcasting live from above by helicopter. Brown joins Williams in flashing gang signs and spits at Denny. A man stands on it, recording Denny as he lies bleeding on the ground but does not try to help him.
Denny remained on the ground next to his truck, covered in blood and unconscious as some residents threw bottles at him. Gary Williams approached Denny and dug into his pockets before running away. As Denny slowly comes and rises to his knees, the man who previously attacked him with a hammer ran upstairs and gave him a flying kick to the face. On the other side of the truck, Lance Parker stopped on his motorcycle and tried to shoot the fuel tank with a shotgun but failed, before driving. Bobby Green Jr., Lei Yuille, and Titus Murphy and Terri Barnett (girlfriend and girlfriend), who had watched the show on television, came to Denny's help. Denny finally drags himself back into the cab, and leaves the scene slowly and uncertainly. Green (also a truck driver), boarded Denny's truck and took over the wheel and drove him to Daniel Freeman's Hospital in Inglewood. Those who helped Denny were recognized by the City of Los Angeles, TRW trucking, and Washington Mutual Bank (now Chase Bank).
Paramedics present to Denny said he came very close to death. As soon as Green took Denny to the hospital, he suffered a seizure. His skull was cracked in 91 places and pushed into his brain. His left eye was so damaged that it would fall into his sinus cavity because the surgeon did not replace the bone that was crushed with a piece of plastic. A permanent crater remains on his forehead despite attempts to fix it.
Reginald Denny
Reginald Oliver Denny (born January 22, 1956), is a 36-year-old construction truck driver. On the first day of the riot, Denny was attacked by several people, pulled from his International Tractor Road and brutally beaten, suffered serious head trauma and other injuries. Denny's ability to speak and drive was influenced by the attack, and he had to undergo rehabilitation therapy for years. During his recovery he received over 27,000 congratulatory cards from supportive community members.
"L.A. Four"
"L.A. Four" is a nickname given to the first four people accused of attacking Denny: Damian Williams, Henry Watson, Antoine Miller, and Gary Williams. Two additional people, Anthony Brown and Lance Parker, were also accused of attacking Denny but not until after the nickname "L.A. Four" had spread. The six redubbed "L.A. Four Plus".
Damian "Football" Williams
19-year-old Damian Monroe Williams (born March 17, 1973) with criminal records including arrests for batteries, robbery, arrest, and hit-and-run but no confidence. As a soccer star in high school, he dreamed of becoming a professional footballer and had played in a semi-professional league. When she was 16, she dropped out of school and became a member of 71 Hustlers (an affiliate of Eight Tray Gangster Crips) and had a three-month-old son at the time of the incident. Less than an hour before his attack on Denny, he witnessed his brother being caught by the police and seen at the intersection of attacking and robbing an Asian man. Williams became one of the better known participants of the L.A. riots. because the live news broadcast of his attacks on Denny and his somewhat memorable nickname, which is often repeated in the news media.
Henry "Kiki" Watson
Henry Keith Watson is a 27-year-old former US Marines and a former inmate who has served time for armed robbery. After being released from prison, he married, had a daughter, and worked two jobs at the time of the incident. Before attacking Denny, Watson was seen near the intersection in a bloodstained shirt and kicked Larry Tarvin's truck driver in the head.
Antoine "Twan" Miller
Antoine Eugene Miller (May 5, 1972 - February 8, 2004) is 19 years old who lives with the family of Damian Williams. Miller's mother was a drug addict, so as a child, Miller was sent to live with his grandmother. When he was 12 years old, his grandmother killed his grandfather during a fight and was punished for his murder, leaving Miller as homeless. Miller had previously been arrested for drug allegations, excited, and failed to appear in court. Before the attack on Denny, Miller was seen looting some of their bikers.
Gary Williams
Gary Anthony Williams is a 33-year-old addicted addict who is described as a "drifter" and a "hustler" pleading at a local gas station. Though he claims to work there, his arrest records record him as unemployed.
Trial
On May 12, Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates began searching for three Denny attackers, identified from the video of the beating. Gates himself arrested Damian Williams, while other officers arrested Henry Watson and Antoine Miller. Soon afterwards, Gary Williams surrendered to the police. The three men arrested are believed to be part of the Eight Trey Gangster Crips.
Judge John W. Ouderkirk gave Miller a separate trial on the ground that strong evidence against Watson and Damian Williams could harm his case; Miller was sentenced to 17 months in prison and 27 months in probation. Gary Williams was sentenced to three years in prison for trying to rob Denny and attack another man.
Edi M.O. Faal is a defense lawyer for Damian Williams, and Earl C. Widely Henry Watson. On July 28, 1993, the Watson and Williams trial began. Both were charged with Denny's assault and five other riders and two firefighters who drove past the intersection of Florence and Normandie shortly after the start of the Los Angeles riots on 29 April. At the trial, Denny faces his attacker for the first time since they attack him. On August 12, 1993, a jury of five white men, three blacks, three Latinos, and one Asian man were chosen. As in Rodney King police trials, prosecutors rely heavily on videos shot by third parties, this time by helicopter. They also plan to build Watson and Williams portraits as criminal, antisocial, and beyond the possibility of rehabilitation and redemption. On August 19, Deputy District Attorney Lawrence Morrison delivered the opening statement and a week later, the video of the beatings was shown. The doctors who took care of Denny gave testimony, explaining his injuries and their attempts to correct them. Furthermore to testify is a witness of Denny's beating and rescue. The prosecutor rested on September 17, 1993. The defense began pleading on September 20, making a case for an unplanned attack, with Faal challenging video evidence and portraying Williams as a victim of poverty and racism. In closing arguments, defense lawyers claim that Williams and Watson were used as scapegoats for the L.A riots. Prosecutors counter-argued that both consciously tried to kill Denny and not the victim.
After several jurors have changed, the hanged jury resulted in all charges except for a number of crimes inflicted on Williams and one count of crime for Williams and Watson on October 18. Watson was rewarded for the time given and sentenced to three years probation for Denny's attack and truck driver Larry Tarvin. Williams was denied bail and sentenced to a maximum of ten years for Denny and four others on 7 December 1993. As the families of the defendants celebrated the lower sentence, Denny came across surprisingly close to Williams's mother Georgiana and embraced her.. For weeks afterwards, public debates about racism and whether fair or unjust decisions have taken place.
Aftermath
As a result of the injuries he suffered during the attack, Denny had to undergo rehabilitation therapy for many years, and his speech and ability went permanently broken. After failing to sue the city of Los Angeles, Denny moved to Arizona, near Lake Havasu, to work as an independent motorboat mechanic. Denny has avoided the media and rarely spoke publicly about his ordeal.
In 1997, Damian Williams was released from prison early due to good behavior, but in 2003, he was sentenced to 46 years in prison for life for the murder of 2000 drug agent Grover Tinner. He currently lives in the Calipatrian State Penitentiary. After his trial, Watson appeared on The Phil Donahue Show where he personally apologized to Denny and shook his hand. Watson was recaptured and sentenced to three years in prison on drug charges, and after his release, he owns and operates a limo service in Los Angeles. On February 1, 2004, Antoine Miller was shot outside a Hollywood nightclub during a fight and died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on February 8 at the age of 31. Gary Williams, Henry Watson, and Damian Williams gave an interview about the unrest for John Ridley's 2017 documentary Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992 .
Related litigation
The best available recording of Denny's beating on April 29, 1992, was filmed by Marika Tur from a helicopter driven by her partner, Robert Tur's reporter. Together, they operate a company called Los Angeles News Service (LANS). In the rush to cover up the unrest as they progress, dozens of television networks and stations around the world simply copy and broadcast unauthorized LAN recordings.
LANS sued almost everything in federal court for copyright infringement; at least one of these lawsuits succeeds. The last case was finally resolved in 2004. Only a handful of stations, mostly in California, already have existing agreements with LANs or are waiting to negotiate agreements before filming the record, and thus are not sued.
In July 2006, LANS sued the YouTube site in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, for copyright infringement. LANS allegedly in the suit, within a week, a video version uploaded by a YouTube user is viewed more than 1,000 times through the site. They argue this hurts their ability to license video. YouTube requests a summary assessment based on the safe port of the DMCA, which is rejected. LANS voluntarily refused the case without prejudice, planning to join classroom action against YouTube in New York. YouTube appealed the dismissal and decision of the summary of the verdict. However, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the call.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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