Runners-up for top story of the month: Rodney King does it again.
Rodney King, who was filmed in 1991 being beaten by four Los Angeles police officers after speeding and evading arrest while on parole for a robbery conviction (the police acquittals for which touched off the 1992 L.A. riots), was recently riding his bicycle after 11 p.m. Most grown-ups wouldn’t be riding a bicycle and, if they were, wouldn’t be doing so at 11 p.m., but King is, well, no ordinary guy. He claims he was confronted by a man and a woman demanding his bike. Most grown-ups, who wouldn’t find themselves in such a situation at 11 p.m. in the first place, would likely just hand over the bike. But, King, again, is no ordinary guy. He refused and, as he rode off, was sprayed with shotgun pellets. He pedaled a mile to his home, where he called 911. Police, who responded before the medics, said King and “others at the home” were so intoxicated and uncooperative they found it difficult to decipher what happened. They were still puzzled by the incident days later. But King is no ordinary guy–he’s a full-blown alcohol and other-drug addict, so rather than being puzzled they should simply be happy they didn’t have to analyze blood samples for a homicide investigation.
King’s case is a classic in the annals of unchecked alcoholism and the affect it has on the lives of others. In 1991 he was arrested on suspicion of trying to run over a vice officer who allegedly found him with a transvestite prostitute. In 1993 he crashed his car into a block wall with a blood alcohol level of over .16 per cent. In 1995 he was convicted of hit-and-run after hitting his wife with his car. (She lived.) In 1999 he spent 90 days in the slammer and was required to attend a batterer’s treatment program after a domestic dispute. (Once again, the law treated symptoms rather than cause, allowing the disease to progress.) In 2001 he was ordered into a year long drug treatment program after an arrest for indecent exposure while under the influence of PCP. (I once viewed an arrest of someone on PCP. It took five cops over ten minutes to get him in handcuffs.) In early 2003 he crashed through a fence and into a house after weaving through traffic in his Ford Expedition at over 100 mph. In late 2003 he was arrested on suspicion of punching his girlfriend in the stomach. In 2005 he was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill one of his daughters and her mother. In 2007 police have been to his home “numerous times.” Even though police overreacted (which a non-professional like me might do if involved in a high-speed pursuit of a convicted felon running several red lights and stop signs, who continued to resist arrest after finally stopping despite being tasered, tackled and struck with batons, strongly supporting the officers’ belief he was high on PCP), King’s behaviors led indirectly to nearly $1 billion in property damage, 55 deaths and almost 2,400 injuries. While it is unlikely that King will ever be directly responsible for even a fraction of such destruction, unless his long-time addiction is quashed he will continue to pose a danger to others and drain public resources.
Psychiatrist Jaroslav Skala, who established the first Czech center for the treatment of alcoholism in 1948, dead at 91. Skala, who got sober in 1951–interestingly, three years after founding the center he headed until retiring in 1982, conducted over 100 studies on addiction.