If the individual who videotaped the beating of Rodney King had taken this video straight to the LAPD, without making any copies of it, do you think that charges would still have been brought against the cops involved, or would the videotape have mysteriously disappeared, with the LAPD denying that they ever received any such tape?

Let's discuss the topic, and not one another.

Matt

The poll doesn't allow for a fifth option; that being that exactly what happened.

If the person handing the tape over said "This is the only copy", I think the police would've reacted as if the person had told them that the tape had been sent to every television station in the country. It would've been the safest way to go...

__________________
Science flies you to the moon.

Religion flies you into buildings.

Of course whoever received it MIGHT be stupid enough to chuck it but as you cannot possibly know if there were copies made or not, it would not be worth the risk.

__________________
Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

Jesus loves you, allah wants you dead

"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

Ayn Rand

The LAPD of those days would most certainly have destroyed the tapes. After all, it was run by a lunatic racist named Daryl Gates.Daryl Gates - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gates used to say such hate-filled shit as:
( Contained in same link as above)
The current chief , Bratton, might be less a lunatic and actually done something about it.He supported a Dem at least one time. And a black one at that . Horrors L.A. Police Chief William Bratton Endorsing Kamala Harris for Attorney General - San Francisco News - The Snitch

We're talking about the LAPD here. There's no way the wouldn't have destroyed the tapes.

__________________
Is our children learning? -George W. Bush

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

The question must be what would Tannisgnir have done?

__________________
January the 20th 2009. The day I started to respect America!

I think the tape would have disappeared or the incident would have been shoved to the back burner, because the cops would have known what would happen had it gotten out: and of course, their fears did happen.

__________________
. . . Everything from toy guns that spark, to flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark, it's easy to see without looking too far, that not much is really sacred.

He would have made a smartass remark and went to the fridge for a Fresca

__________________

The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity; where everything is made simple, and in that simplification the truth is lost.

Was working for them (or any PD) at the time. I had a suit and tie gig in international trade finance downtown, on the 18th floor of the Sanwa Bank Tower, working for a Japanese company.

__________________
All things serve The Beam

Did they have Fresca there?

__________________

The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity; where everything is made simple, and in that simplification the truth is lost.

lol.

nice.

__________________
"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine

No, but more goddamned gree tea than you could shake a stick at.

__________________
All things serve The Beam

I chose that it depended on the person who got a hold of the tape. When it comes down to it you can't lump a whole group into one action. Say a cop with white supremacist had gotten the tape. It very well might have been destroyed (if he was fairly sure he wouldn't get caught as they then to be cowards). If a black cop got his hands on the tape it probably would have been released. If cop with moral integrity had gotten the tape it would have been released.

__________________
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw

People always seem to forget police are bureaucrats, bureaucrats love holding information on each other for future use; the tape would survive.