Floyd Probe Echoes Barr's Oversight of Rodney King Case
The Justice Department’s civil-rights investigation into the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody puts Attorney General William Barr at the center of a high-profile, racially charged flashpoint reminiscent of one he handled in his first stint as attorney general in the 1990s.
Mr. Barr oversaw the department’s response to the videotaped police beating of Rodney King that ultimately led to the Los Angeles riots in 1992, when Mr. Barr was attorney general under President George H.W. Bush.
When a state jury acquitted three officers in the beating, and failed to reach a verdict on a fourth, Mr. Barr quickly reminded an anguished public that the Justice Department was still pursuing a federal civil-rights investigation—one that led to charges against the officers and convictions of two of them for violating Mr. King’s rights.
In the intervening years, Mr. Barr has complained about what he views as a rise in disrespect toward police, warning in one speech that communities that fail to defer to law enforcement “may find themselves without the police protection they need.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/floyd-probe-echoes-barrs-oversight-of-rodney-king-case/ar-BB14QoIC?li=BBnb7Kz
= new reply since forum marked as read
