The L.A. Riots | 6. No Peace

Summary

Slow Burn: The L.A. Riots | 6. No Peace

Date: December 15, 2021
Host: Joel Anderson, Slate Podcasts

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Slow Burn, Joel Anderson takes listeners hour-by-hour through the first, chaotic afternoon and evening of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, sparked by the acquittal of four LAPD officers who brutally beat Rodney King. Drawing on first-person interviews, news footage, and police testimony, the episode explores the immediate community response to the verdict, the breakdown of law enforcement, and the violence that erupted at the intersection of Florence and Normandy. Anderson highlights the shock, anger, and historical context behind the unrest, the failure of city leadership, and how quickly order collapsed in America’s second largest city.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Shock and Disbelief at the Verdict

• Tim Goldman, a resident and witness, recalls missing the news while out with friends; the shock upon learning all officers were acquitted (00:55).
  • “Them cops got off. And my stomach, man, just like, I was stunned.” – Tim Goldman (01:49)
• The episode contextualizes the verdict as a devastating confirmation for Black Angelenos of systemic injustice:
  • “The criminal justice system guaranteed black victims, especially victims of police violence, nothing.” – Joel Anderson (03:38)
• Goldman reflects: There was “no hope;” the videotape had been clear, to no avail (02:47).

Early Community Response and Tension

• Black leaders attempted to organize a peaceful rally (“Operation Cool Response”) believing there would be at least one conviction (08:02).
  • Activist Danny Bakewell: “...we will accept a verdict that’s in our best interest without violence. We’re not just trying to spark into violence for violence’s sake.” (08:10)
• LAPD Chief Daryl Gates was convinced the city was prepared, planning mostly for nighttime unrest based on prior events (08:28).
• Within moments, large crowds began to gather at critical spots in LA—anger and disbelief spreading quickly (04:22–05:00).

Law Enforcement’s Failed Response

• Despite warnings, the LAPD showed a lack of urgency and misread early signs; Metro unit leaders wanted to deploy earlier but were told not to (09:53–10:41).
  • “I was a madman well in advance of this thing because people were not paying attention.” – Lt. Michael Hillman (10:10)
• Reporter Jim Newton describes officers at headquarters celebrating the acquittal, then quickly shifting to concern as protestors stormed the building (11:19–12:13).

Breakdown at Florence & Normandy

• Florence and Normandy becomes the flashpoint:
  • Police are surrounded by angry residents, severely outnumbered and lacking riot gear.
  • Tensions rise with the arrest of a teen accused of throwing rocks. The crowd is hostile; at one point, the boy yells, “I can’t breathe” while being cuffed (15:52–16:01).
  • Tim Goldman and others film the scene as 35 officers confront 200 residents (16:33).
    • “They were definitely scared. You could see it in their face ... You know, they didn’t teach this at the academy.” – Tim Goldman (16:50)
• Police withdraw after 5:43pm, leaving the intersection to the crowd (18:59).
  • “I just thought they were going to regroup, come back in force ... And they never came back. They never came back.” – Tim Goldman (18:59)

Escalation & Violence Toward Civilians

• With police gone, the crowd’s anger turns toward civilians:
  • The first victims are a Latino family whose car is attacked; soon after, truck driver Larry Tarvin is pulled from his vehicle and savagely beaten (22:47, 23:20).
    • “That’s how fucking Rodney King felt, white boy. That’s how Rodney ...” (23:20)
  • Kiki Watson, later convicted for his actions, participates in the attacks:
    • “Anything that came through that intersection that wasn’t black was asked out ... we won a battle.” – Kiki Watson (21:08)
• The most notorious attack: the beating of truck driver Reginald Denny, broadcast live from above by helicopter pilot Zoe Tur (24:23–26:57).
  • Denny is pulled from his truck, viciously beaten, having bricks and objects smashed on him while no police intervene.
  • “This is attempted murder.” – Zoe Tur narrating live (26:14).
  • Kiki Watson: “I didn’t go down there. I just got swept up into the moment ... Before I know it, shit, I was hooking and jabbing and sticking and moving like everybody else.” (28:27–29:06)

The Absence of Leadership

• During these critical hours, the city’s leadership falters:
  • Mayor Tom Bradley issues calls for calm (13:48), but LAPD Chief Gates is absent, attending a fundraiser in affluent Brentwood (32:11).
    • Zev Yaroslavski, City Council: “If there was anything, any metaphor for this whole fiasco, it’s that Daryl Gates, the chief of police, was not on post because he was out raising money to stop the reforms that would prevent something like this from happening.” (32:55)
  • Gates does not return to headquarters until after 8:15pm, by which point major fires and violence are widespread.

Nightfall: The City Burns

• Fires erupt across the city, emergency services are overwhelmed, and the National Guard isn’t called for hours (34:26, 36:07).
  • “Hell on Earth. It looked like flying over a war zone. Just plumes and plumes of smoke everywhere.” – Zoe Tur (36:07)
• The episode ends on the note that, despite official claims, the worst had yet to come.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tim Goldman:
  • “What’s going through my mind is, man, there’s, like, no hope. They can get caught on videotape beating the hell out of somebody, damn near killing him … And that sent a message to them. Now we beat the hell out of you … and nothing gonna happen to us.” (02:47)
  • “I don’t know what I would have been doing if I didn’t have that camera in my hand, man. I probably would have been out there beating the hell out of people, too.” (30:25)
• LA Times reporter Jim Newton:
  • “I assumed that Gates would be personally in control of this … so to discover he wasn’t there was shocking.” (12:31)
• Kiki Watson:
  • “I didn’t go down there [planning violence]. I just got swept up into the moment ... Before I know it, shit, I was hooking and jabbing and sticking and moving like everybody else.” (28:27–29:06)
  • “The biggest gang in our city, and they ride around and they bang on motherfuckers, man. So, you know, fuck the police, man.” (30:25)
• Zev Yaroslavski:
  • “It was a Pearl Harbor for LA … the chief of police was not on post because he was out raising money to stop the reforms that would prevent something like this from happening.” (32:11, 32:55)
• Zoe Tur, on helicopter reporting:
  • “Hell on Earth. It looked like flying over a war zone … plumes and plumes of smoke everywhere.” (36:07)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:55 — Tim Goldman learns of the verdict
• 03:38 — Context of systemic injustice in LA
• 08:02 — Plans for peaceful community response
• 10:10 — LAPD’s internal dismissal of riot risks
• 11:19 — Officers’ reactions to acquittal at headquarters
• 15:52 — Tense arrest at Florence and Normandy
• 18:59 — LAPD retreats, leaving intersection to crowd
• 21:34 — Looting escalates, violence turns on civilians
• 23:20 — Beating of truck driver Larry Tarvin
• 24:23–26:57 — Helicopter footage and live narration of Reginald Denny beating
• 28:27 — Kiki Watson describes being swept up in violence
• 32:11 — Zev Yaroslavski on Gates’s absence
• 36:07 — Helicopter pilot Zoe Tur describes the burning city

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Tone and Language

The episode is raw, urgent, and emotionally charged, reflecting both the horror of the moment and the generational anger and disappointment felt by LA’s Black residents. Testimonies from witnesses and participants are included unvarnished, with strong language, frustration, and at times, introspective regret.

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Summary Conclusion

Episode 6, “No Peace,” offers a ground-level, minute-by-minute account of how the Rodney King verdict ignited violence, the immediate failure of law enforcement, and the absence of meaningful city leadership. Drawing on striking interviews and real archival audio, it demonstrates how decades of injustice, ignored warnings, and festering community tensions converged to plunge Los Angeles into chaos within hours. The episode is both a case study in civic failure and a searing reminder of unresolved racial trauma—ending with the chilling promise that the worst was yet to come.

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Transcript

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

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[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

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[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

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[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

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[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

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[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

One step to learn more. Use as directed. A quick warning this episode has some explicit language. On the afternoon of April 29, 1992, Tim Goldman was running errands with his best friend. It was a mostly clear, balmy day, the kind Los Angeles is known for. First, they went downtown to sell one of Goldman's cameras and grabbed some lunch. After that, they drove to Gardena to help another friend move a few things with their truck.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

You know, we're not listening to the news. We're jamming music and having a good time just riding in the truck.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

When they arrived at the friend's house, they could tell something was wrong.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I go in, I'm like, hey, what's up? And everybody looking all sad. And I'm like, what? All the sad faces, what's going on?

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Goldman and his friend had missed some very big news.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

And they said, them cops, them cops got off. And my stomach, man, just like, I was stunned.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Tim Wind, innocent of all charges.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Ted Brasino, innocent of all charges. Stacy Coon, innocent of all charges.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

And Lawrence Powell, innocent of all charges but one.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

And the jury deadlocked on that one.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Goldman was astonished. In the months leading up to the trial, he. He'd watched George Holiday's videotape over and over again. He felt certain that the officers who beat Rodney King were going to be punished for what they'd done.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

One of the neighbors down the street, Mr. Young, and, you know, I was talking to him one morning and I was like, you know, I think the verdict's gonna come out today. And he said, nothing gonna happen to them cops. I'm like, no, Mr. Young Man. They got caught on tape, they going to jail. He was like, ain't nothing gonna happen to them cops.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

That older man had been right. Nothing did happen to those police officers.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

What's going through my mind is, man, there's, like, no hope. They can get caught on videotape beating the hell out of somebody, damn near killing him. Hell, and they're. And that sent a message to them. Now we beat the hell out of you and don't take and, you know, floss in front of the tape, and we're not. Nothing gonna happen to us.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Goldman was 32 years old. He'd been a little kid during the 1965 Watts riots. His only memory was of a tank rolling down the street. Growing up, Goldman heard about the LAPD sweeping through South Central to hassle the residents, most of them black. He told me that when he was 13, a cop detained him for pulling a fire alarm. Goldman says the officer pointed a gun at his head and handcuffed him to a telephone pole.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Man, I couldn't. I didn't like cops after that. I didn't care if they were black, white. I just didn't like him.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

So he was under no illusions about what the LAPD and its officers were capable of. But now he was learning a lesson that had been imparted on generations of black Americans. The criminal justice system guaranteed black victims, especially victims of police violence, nothing. Goldman understood that now deeply. It felt gutting and traumatic, but also kind of liberating.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Now you got a more youthful group of people who were interested in, you know, the outcome of this trial who are not gonna sit back. And I was like, oh, hell, no. This is. No, no, this. We gonna do something about this.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

That Wednesday afternoon, people all over Southern California were coming to terms with the verdict. A lot of them were young black men, and they were angry.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

You're racist. You're racist.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Minutes after the announcement, more than 300 people gathered outside the courthouse in Simi Valley. Another 300 showed up in the San Fernando Valley near the site of the King beating. Others converged on Parker center, the LAPD's headquarters downtown. Tim Goldman headed back to his home in South Central. He was there only a few minutes when his friend started shouting. From outside.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I can hear him yelling, tim, Tim, we gotta go. Something going on at Florence of Normandy, and I shoot out the door with my camera, man. My instinct was to grab the camera. It fully charged at the new Super Pack, battery on it, and I ran. I jumped in his truck. Florence and Normandy. Well, here we come. Officer Dale.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

On April 29, Goldman kept his camera running for about two hours.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Officer needs help. I hope he needs help getting his ass kicked because I don't like police.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

The intersection of Florence and Normandy was about a half mile away. Goldman, an Air Force veteran, could tell there was a big commotion.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

We could see the police helicopter and I mean, they're making tight turns, which means there's something, there's something serious going down. It's like they're like in the combat zone. They're like, they're tight. They're turning real tight.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

They didn't know it, but Goldman and his friend were headed for the epicenter of the largest civil disturbance in American history. What they saw there would electrify their neighborhood and horrify the country. This is Slow Burn. I'm your host, Joel Anderson. In March 1991, black people in Los Angeles had seen the videotape of Rodney King being beaten in November. They'd seen Soon Jadu, sentenced to probation for killing 15 year old Latasha Harland. The not guilty verdict on April 29, 1992 was the final straw. Protests spread from the San Fernando Valley to downtown LA to South Central, where Goldman waded into the unrest. Those first few hours were crucial. They would set the tone for the disastrous days to come. What happened when people took to the streets? Why did the LAPD retreat in the midst of growing chaos? And how did the city's failure to prepare accelerated to collapse into anarchy? This is episode six, no Peace. Black leaders in Los Angeles had been making plans for the verdicts. The day before, they'd met at one of LA's oldest black churches. They called their plan Operation Cool Response. It involved a peaceful rally. Activist Danny Bakewell didn't expect a lot of trouble.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I was of the impression that there's no way these guys are gonna be vindicated. So therefore, we will accept a verdict that's in our best interest without violence. We're not just trying to spark into violence for violence sake.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

LAPD Chief Daryl Gates figured that at least one of the officers would be convicted and that the city would likely remain peaceful. But if there was an uprising, Gaetz believed that he and the LAPD were ready. In 1965, Gates had been charged with leading the department's response to the civil disturbance in Watts. Although the police had failed to keep a lid on the violence, Gates profile grew. He gave speeches and wrote a training manual on riot control. If things got ugly again, Gates assumed events would unfold like they did in 1965. With most of the rioting happening at night. So that's what he and the department planned for. He set aside $1 million for police overtime and he recorded a five minute video that was shown at precincts around the city. In the message, Gates told his officers that it was their job to maintain calmness. He also told his officers that black leaders were threatening unrest.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Now there's some in our community, supposedly responsible leaders who have suggested, but her verdict doesn't come out the way they believe that it ought to come out, that some will take to the streets and there may be some violence in the city.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Some people thought those comments weren't helpful.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Maybe Gaetz isn't trying, but he's sending.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Shock waves through the community.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

He's telling the police department that there are all those people out there who want to stir things up. He has chose to set us against each other.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

The police against the civilians, blacks against whites.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

After the jury renders.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

LAPD Lieutenant Michael Hillman was in charge of the Metro unit, an elite team used for only the riskiest situations. Hillman wanted to deploy the Metro team before it got dark, but he said a deputy chief told him that wouldn't be necessary. I mean, I was.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I was a madman well in advance of this thing because people were not paying attention.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

That's Hillman in an interview a few years after the riots. Some were like, it'll never happen. 65 will never come back.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

We'll never have a situation like that because they're probably going to have convictions. And if we have convictions, then there probably will not be any type of civil disorder. Then we're not reading the signs. Somebody didn't listen. A lot of people didn't listen.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

LA Times reporter Jim Newton spent the afternoon of April 29 at Parker Center, LAPD's headquarters. His job was to cover the department's reaction to the verdict. It was tense. The administrative offices were up on the sixth floor.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

But I was down on a floor.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

That had more rank and file, folks where the entrance was, et cetera. And all of that kind of came to a stop as people gathered around television sets to await the verdict. It was 3:15pm the jury in the Los Angeles police meeting of black motorist Rodney King returned verdicts late today.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Not guilty on all but one count.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

And it's that at that moment that I became aware that people who were around me were delighted at that verdict. Some of the officers around Newton pumped their fists and exchanged high fives. The predominant mood around me seemed to be that they felt vindicated and that the jury had Seen through what many people, what many officers regarded as a politically motivated prosecution. The celebration didn't last long. About 10 minutes later, protesters started gathering outside of the building. From inside, Newton could see the angry crowd through the bank of windows on the ground floor. And things turned sour fairly quickly.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

The protesters did storm the doors of Parker center, and you can see they.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Broke the glass, glass everywhere. People were getting more and more agitated.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I feel that it's a great travesty of justice. I feel that the jury in Simi Valley gave the okay to continue to abuse and oppress and suppress black people in this country. And I couldn't sit in my home and just watch it on television. I had to come here and let my voice be heard.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

As Newton kept an eye on the windows, he talked with two members of the city's police commission. One of the commissioners told Newton that that he hadn't seen or heard from Daryl Gates. I became aware from them that Gates was unaccounted for. The whole city had been waiting for this verdict for a year, and then suddenly it was there and the chief was awol. It was becoming clear that if Gates had a contingency plan, it wasn't much of one and very few people knew what it was. I assumed that Gaetz would be personally in control of this because this was a high level response that would be closely watch and that the city would depend on capable leadership in it. So to discover that he wasn't there was shocking. Let's take a quick break. Mayor Tom Bradley watched the verdicts come in from his office at City Hall. He was overcome with anger. He too had believed the officers would be convicted. Around 5pm, almost two hours after the verdict, with the streets starting to fill with demonstrators, Bradley went on TV to appeal for calm.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I know that we must express our profound outrage, our anger, but we must do so in ways that bring honor to ourselves and our communities.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

We must not bury the gains we.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Have made and the rubble created by destructive behavior.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Everyone had been looking for Darrell Gates for the past couple of hours, waiting for him to take charge. As it turned out, he'd been sitting in his office alone. He finally emerged to make his own public statement about a half hour after Bradley's.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

If we have civil disturbances, we are prepared to deal with that. And I'm not going to go into any detail. Our job is to maintain peace and order on the streets.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Just as Darrell Gates addressed the public, some of his officers were on the streets of South Central facing a precarious situation.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

We can feel the tension among People.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

As they were driving, they were very.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Upset with law enforcement.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

That's Sam Arasa, he was a sergeant in the lapd.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

You can feel the anger.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

People were cussing at us, you know.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Lifting their fist up like they were angry with us.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Arace and his partner were on patrol in South Central after the verdict. As they were driving, the officers received a call for assistance. Near the intersection of Florence and Normandy. Four police officers were being pelted with rocks and bottles by an angry mob. And we were actually the first unit.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

To arrive at Florence in Normandy.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

One of the officers identified a rock thrower, a 16 year old boy from the neighborhood.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

And I said, you know what, that's BS. You know, he's going to jail. We chased into 71st in Normandy and.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Then we ran eastbound through the street. He ran through a down chain link.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Fence and I continued through and he was rattling the fence, so I caught him in between.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

And then there's two other officers right behind him.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

And we were able to take him to custody.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

As Arase and the other arresting officers pressed the boy into the ground and put him in handcuffs, the boy yelled out, I can't breathe.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Then I noticed as we were handcuffing him that a crowd was forming around us. That's when I began to realize this may turn ugly. We put out additional unit's request.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

More officers showed up.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

We had the patrol showed up with, with Crash, which was our gang unit.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

And the detectives rolled up too.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

People were coming from everywhere, man. I'm telling you, people were coming from everywhere.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

That's Tim Goldman. Goldman arrived at Florence in Normandy with his friend. They both had cameras and started recording as soon as they pulled up. There were 35 police officers on the scene and nearly 200 angry residents.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

They were in their faces, man. Point. You'll see them pointing their fingers at them even. They were really going after the black cops. I mean, they were really going after me. I mean, you can see it. They call him all kind of names, man, you need to be ashamed of yourself, boy. They were definitely scared. You could see it in their face. And I was like, that's why I was like. I was like right up in their face. And you could see the tension. That ain't nothing, man. That ain't nothing. You can see it in some of the guys too. It's like, man, this is this. You know, they didn't teach this this at the academy.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

In Goldman's footage from the scene, you can see a bunch of officers forming a line. That group is protecting another set of Officers while they finish arresting the teenager who threw the rock.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Get down, Michael Fighter.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Some cops are holding batons, but most just stand still and place their arms in front as the crowd aggressively confronts them. As a helicopter whirs overhead, people yell, fuck the police. And at least one woman spits at a female officer and calls her white bitch. The officers didn't respond. Arase concentrated on getting the boy into the squad car.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I just wanted to make sure that he didn't get taken away from us because that would be a total embarrassment for the police department.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Commanding officer Michael mullen from the 77th street station arrived at the scene to find his officers being pelted with wooden boards and chunks of concrete. They didn't have riot gear, no helmets, no bulletproof vests, no face shields. He later said he was worried they might have to use deadly force on the crowd. So at 5:43pm Minutes after Daryl Gates was on television saying the department was prepared for a disturbance, Mullen called for a retreat. As the officers rushed to their patrol cars and drove away, Tim Goldman assumed they planned to regroup and returned to the intersection.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I thought when they evacuated, they were going to come back in riot gear and shut that intersection down. I stayed. That's why I stayed and continued to record, because I knew they were coming back. I just thought they were. Go get, you know, go, go regroup, come back in force, Beat the hell out of people. Get out this intersection. And I stayed there. And they never came back. They never came back. My name is Henry Keith Watson, and family and friends call me Kiki. You know, white folks call me Henry Watson.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Kiki Watson watched the Verdict on TV like millions of others.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I was one of the naive ones that thought the judicial system was gonna work. And it didn't.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Watson grew up in South Central and lived about four miles away in Inglewood. He worked two jobs. He was 27 years old, married, and a father. He'd served in the Marine Corps. He told me he once applied to become a LAPD officer.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I mean, I was a service oriented type of individual. You know what I'm saying? I wanted to help.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Are you okay saying, like, why it didn't work out? Like, was it just.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

No, it was full of shit. I tried. I mean, I took three written exams and, like, five oral interviews. You know what I'm saying? It was just too much bullshit, you know what I'm saying? Too many obstacles. So, you know, obviously I wasn't saying what they wanted me to say. They wasn't hearing, you know, from me what they wanted to hear.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

When Watson saw the news about the verdict, he caught a ride with a friend over to his old hood. He arrived at Florence in Normandy just in time to see the police pull.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

See, they were outnumbered, you know what I'm saying? They were outmanned. They were. I mean, you understand what I'm saying? It was a massive crowd, you know.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Like, what are people saying in the streets? What's happening as they leave and they roll out?

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

That was a sense of relief, like celebratory, you know what I'm saying? Like, we did something, you know what I'm saying? We staked our claim, so we won a battle.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

With the officers gone from the area, Florence and Normandy became ground zero for some of the boldest and angriest agitators in Los Angeles. One boy threw a streetlight pole through the window of a liquor store. People flooded in and took what they could. Looters rushed back out, their arms full of large bottles. Tim Goldman caught the scene on T.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I always say that once the liquor store was looted, I mean, it was literally looted, everything came out of there and, you know, a lot of liquor in there. The attacks intensified, in my opinion. Yeah, Korean's on that, motherfucker. Anyway. Korean's on that.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

The crowd had directed its anger at the police. But with the cops now gone from the intersection, the violence turned against civilians who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A crowd of young black men started throwing objects at vehicles that passed through the intersection. The first victims were a Latino family, the Behars. Their car was hit with rocks and bricks. A phone book and a metal binder crashed through their windshield. They were rushed to a hospital, their faces bloody from broken glass. Kiki Watson found himself drawn to the action.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

And anything that came through that intersection that wasn't black was asked out. I didn't wake up on April 29 and said, I'm gonna make history today by just fucking up the entire City.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

At 6:43pm almost an hour after the LAPD had fled the scene, a white truck driver named Larry Tarvin drove a delivery truck through the intersection. Tarvin didn't have a radio in his truck. He didn't know about the verdicts in the King trial or about the violence in the area he was driving through. Before he knew what was happening, Kiki Watson had pulled him from his truck, thrown him to the ground, and started beating him. Other people joined in. Goldman captured Tarvyn's beating on his camera.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

That's how fucking Rodney King felt, white boy. That's how Rodney.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Tarvin was beaten bloody, then fell unconscious for more than a minute. In a later interview, he said, every time I tried to get up, they knocked me back down. Watson.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Dude, Larry Tarvin was a victim like anybody else that came through there. I think it was like 21 victims or 14, 17 victims. One right after the other. It didn't matter, you know what I'm saying? Kicking ass and taking names.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Eventually, someone helped Harvin drive away in his truck, which had been picked clean. About a minute later, another white truck driver entered the intersection. His name was Reginald Denny. When Denny saw the mob, he thought maybe he could get through. But then he heard people yelling at him to stop. Rocks came flying through his window.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

And here I was stuck in the middle of something and didn't know what.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

To do and just figured, well, I'm just going to get out of here.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

As quick as possible.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

He doesn't remember much of what happened next. We'll talk about that after a quick break. Zoe Turner expected the cops in the King beating would get off. And when they did, she wanted to be ready. I was going to capture the riot that I expected to happen. Tur is a helicopter pilot. In 1992, she ran a freelance news service, shooting aerial footage for TV stations. And we flew to Florence and Normandy and we started flying at a high altitude and we started descending a little bit. And over time, we saw the very first rocks being thrown. Tir's helicopter was about 70ft up when she spotted the attack on Reginald Denny. Oh, look at that. Terrible. That's Tur's voice. She's watching the beating unfold from a co pilot seat. Tur narrated the gruesome scene live for thousands of Angelenos tuning in to TV station KCOP in radio station knx. And there's no police presence down here. They will not enter the area. Tur's video footage starts with Denny on the ground surrounded by four men. One of them seems to be trying to pick his rear pocket. Another is Keke Watson, clearly visible on the tape in a white T shirt, jeans and a cap with the tag still attached. Watson holds Denny's head down with his foot. Another man lifts a heavy object over his head with both hands and slams it down onto Denny's head. I asked Watson about that moment you come up on Reginald Denny. He's already surrounded in the street. Do you remember what went through your mind when you saw him there?

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Nope, not at all. Not at all. It was some, probably some savage shit.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

This is attempted murder. As Denny Tries to get up. Another man approaches from behind and kicks him in the back. Then that man hits Denny with a hammer. There's no shutting down Florence. Let's shut Florence Boulevard down. That's the answer.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

We're going to tell the LAPD to do that now. Tell LAPD to shut Florence Boulevard down.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

And Normandy, because people are still driving through here. Another man throws a brick at Denny's head, knocking him unconscious. Denny is lying on his back, his face almost unrecognizable with all the blood. Several men celebrate as they circle Denny's body. One digs through his pockets. At least one spits on him.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Okay, he's moving.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

He's a lot of blood gushing from the man's head. Someone standing there taking a picture. He's taking a videotape of the man laying on the street, but nobody's helping him. That man with the video camera was Tim Goldman's brother. Goldman was still fixated on what happened to the other truck driver, Larry Tarvin.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I didn't know what had happened until, like I said, I watched the news and they showed the aerial footage, and. And I saw the Denny attack, and I was like, damn.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Four South Central residents who'd seen the attack on TV rushed over to rescue Denny. They loaded Denny into his truck and drove him to the hospital. Watson told me that he stuck around the intersection for a little while, but eventually went home after it got dark. Was there any point at which you thought Reginald Denny might die?

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Yeah. Yeah, of course.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Like, right then in the street or like, later?

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I don't know. But, you know, it didn't matter. It wasn't something that I was thinking about. I was concerned. Concerned about. I mean, you know.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

From her helicopter 70ft above the scene, Zoe Ter felt helpless. It was killing me not being able to save this guy.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I was so fucking angry at what.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

I was seeing down below. Reginald Denny did survive with permanent injuries. And Kiki Watson, looking back, he told me he'd been swept up in the violent energy of the mob.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

My analysis was that on. That was you. You called me one day and said, kiki, I got some Garth Brooks tickets, right? And I tell you, homie, I don't do no Garth Brooks, dog. You know what I'm saying? But you say, hey, they front row, they on the floor, you know, they're free. You know, Ah, what the. You know what I'm saying? Okay, you talk me into it. Let's go. Right? And 45 minutes into the show, I'm dosy doin and hee haw Right along with the rest of these motherfuckers up in here. So that was the same thing with the riot, you know what I'm saying? I didn't go down there. I just got swept up into the moment. Before I know it, shit, I was hooking and jabbing and sticking and moving like everybody else.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

The attack on Denny happened only a few hours into the madness that would consume la, but it became the enduring image of the riots. A white man being beaten by a group of black men. The video that had set everything off showed a prone and powerless Rodney King getting the life nearly beaten out of him by a lawless, powerful gang. Reginald Denny was prone and powerless, too. And the men who beat Denny nearly to death were definitely lawless, but they weren't powerful. I imagine that Kiki Watson and the other young black men at Florence and Normandy saw themselves in Rodney King. Ordinary people at the mercy of the state. At that intersection, they seized back some of the power wielded against them, and it didn't matter who was on the other end of their blows, as long as it hurt. And all the people who drove through the intersection that afternoon, they paid a price they shouldn't have had to pay. Keke Watson was convicted of assault and spent 18 months behind bars. A month after his release, he apologized to Reginald Denny during an appearance on a daytime talk show. But Watson doesn't apologize for the anger that fed his cruelty. Even today, he says, cops are getting away with the same things that drove people into the streets 30 years ago.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

They just pull you over and fuck and fuck with you, you know what I'm saying, and jack you up. I mean, who likes to be jacked up, man, for no reason? That's the biggest gang in our city, and they ride around and they bang on motherfuckers, man. So, you know, fuck the police, man. I don't know what I would have been doing if I didn't have that camera in my hand, man. I probably would have been out there beating the hell out of people, too.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

As he filmed that day, Tim Goldman could be heard on tape disparaging the cops and egging on some of the beatings.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I'm surprised I didn't get charged for inciting a riot because I said some. I said some things, you know, over the years, you know, you live with that and you kind of regret it. You know, I may have had some comments about whites and Asians, and you can hear those comments on the tapes, too.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

But almost 30 years later, Goldman has come to see his outburst at Florence in Normandy, as a response to more than the verdicts.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

You know, like, I had a range of emotions out there. You know, you're thinking about junior high school incidents I had with, you know, white guy who hit me in the back of the head with a boat in class. And I got suspended because I turned around and hit him. And, and going to college in Daytona and walking down the street when they're having like the International, you know, the Daytona 500, and people are passing, hey, nigger, you know, they passed me on the street. Just call it. You never met me before in my life. And so you. What happened out there, man? And I didn't sanction it or anything like that, but, you know, it happened.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Let's take a quick break. It was a Pearl harbor for la.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

And for the lapd, it was that big a deal.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

That's Zev Yaroslavski. He was a member of the LA City Council. Ironically, you know where Daryl Gates was the night that the riots got started. While Reginald Denny was being beaten in the street, Daryl Gates was driving to Brentwood. He had quietly slipped out of Parker center at 6:30 and headed for a mixer in one of the city's most affluent neighborhoods. Eight months earlier, a blue ribbon commission chaired by Warren Christopher had called for major changes to rein in the lapd. Those proposals were set to go before voters in a month, and Gates was out raising money for the campaign to defeat them. If there was anything, any metaphor for.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

This whole fiasco, it's that Daryl Gates, the chief of Police, was not on post because he was out raising money.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

To stop the reforms that would prevent.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Something like this from happening.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

In Brentwood, about 20 miles from Florence in Normandy, Gates was greeted with applause. It was an intimate affair with no more than 50 people. The sound from the event is distant and muffled, as if someone hit a recorder in their pocket. Gates voice is instantly recognizable.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I wish we didn't have this interruption, but I am going to have to leave in a few minutes.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Gates took questions for nearly half an hour, including a handful about the riots that were happening on the other side of town.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

So I know what a riot is like. I'm hopeful that this is not going to reach those police and we'll do our best. We know a lot better, a lot more about controlling lives today than we did in those days.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Gates did his best to stay on message, even as it became clear he was needed back at headquarters.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Anyway, I'm going to have to go on. We love you. We think about you and we love you. I know you already know this, but I want everyone else to know. It's the black leaders who don't like you. The rest of us love you.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Gates didn't get back to the city's emergency operations center until 8:15pm by then, the LA skyline was filled with smoke and the LAPD dispatchers were overwhelmed with emergency calls. By nightfall, dozens of buildings were burning. Firemen could not get to most of them for fear they would be attacked. When one crew tried, a fireman was shot and wounded. There was so much smoke over the city that planes landing at LA's airport.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Had to shift directions.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Fire crews reported being attacked with rocks and bottles, a crowbar, a pickaxe and a Molotov cocktail. And even the fire department couldn't get through the phone lines to request police escorts. Gates had missed it all. People were just appalled. LA Times reporter Jim Newton. Police chiefs are really expected to remain aloof from politics, so start with that. He's not supposed to be going to a fundraiser to raise money to defeat police reform. Even if there had not been a riot, that would have been the wrong thing to do. And then it caused him to not be able to exercise leadership of the department. I mean, you almost couldn't script it that way. In a way that would be more devastating to him and his reputation than for that to be where he was. As the night went on, the nation watched in horror as Los Angeles descended into fire and lawlessness. Zoe Tur and her crew could see the devastation from their helicopter. Hell on Earth. It looked like flying over a war zone. It looked like it just plumes and plumes of smoke everywhere.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Well, this is the kind of hellish scene that we all were afraid we'd.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

See one day in the city of Los Angeles.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Everything was on fire and there were.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

No police and there were no firefighters at these, at these building fires.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

How much of this can you shoot?

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

It started looking like one fire, looked like another fire that looked like another fire. A little before 9pm, Mayor Tom Bradley declared a state of emergency. He asked Governor Pete Wilson to send in the National Guard. Jim Newton, Again, it was humiliating to the local leadership that it could not handle this problem itself, a problem that it had braced for, that it knew was possible. So my sense is that there was lots of outbreaks of violence and that, especially in the early hours, the failure of anyone to try, to try to combat that gave the sense that anyone could be anyone anywhere could be violent and get away with it. Given months to prepare, Los Angeles had shown itself incapable of coming together to solve the most pressing threat it had faced in 27 years. At 11pm Mayor Bradley made another television appearance. He advised residents to stay off the streets and let them know a curfew would be put into effect the following night.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

We believe that the situation is now simmering down, pretty much under control and the governor has assisted us with a declaration of emergency so that in the event further assistance is needed, will be.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

Able to respond very quickly once again. The people in LA streets would have something to say about that. The next day was the worst day. Next week on Slow Burn, the city collapses.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

God damn it. It really finally fucking happened. You know, it's like the whole city's fucking exploding.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

It was very urgent, Very, very urgent. We are running out of bullet.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

Where are you?

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

What he did say on the phone to me is that cuz, you know.

[Interviewee / Tim Goldman and others]

I'm not even like this.

[Narrator / Joel Anderson]

I never told nobody to go burn down the city that they live in. Slow Burn is a production of Slate Plus, Slate's membership program. You can sign up for Slate plus to hear bonus episodes and in this week's bonus episode, you'll be hearing from Zoe Turr. Head over to slate.com slowburn to sign up and listen. Now, it's only a dollar for your first month. We couldn't make Slow Burn without the support of Slate plus, so please sign up if you can head over to slate.com slowburn Slowburn is produced by Jason De Leon, Ethan Brooks, Sophie Summergrad, Jasmin Ellis and me, Joel Anderson. Editorial direction by Josh Levine and Gabriel Roth. Artwork is by Jim Cook. Our theme music was composed by Don Will, mixing by Merritt Jacob. Some of the audio you heard in this week's episode comes courtesy of Tim Goldman and Zoe Turr and also from the Department of Special Research Collections at the UC Santa Barbara Library, thanks to their team. Special thanks to Lou Cannon, Jackson Vanderbek, Mark Steinberg, Stan Mizrahi, Janae Desmond Harris, Amber Smith, Bill Carey, Meredith Moran, Seth Brown, Rachel Strom, Chow Tu, Derek Johnson, Asha Saluja and Katie Rayford. Thanks for listening. January's the perfect time to pause, reset and rethink what you're sipping. Ritual Zero Proof delivers the taste, aroma and bite of real spirits without the alcohol. Whiskey for a sour, gin for a gt, agave for a margarita. There's a zero proof option for every cocktail. A simple one to one swap makes it easy to mix, enjoy and keep your goals on track. This January, choose more. More flavor, more cocktails, more moments. Ditch the rules, keep the ritual. Find yours at ritual.0proof.com.