George Holliday, who filmed the savage beating of black motorist Rodney King by a gang of angry white cops from Los Angeles Police Department, is dead at 61.
On March 3, 1991, Holliday stood on the balcony of his apartment and used his Sony Video8 Handycam to record four white Los Angeles police officers using batons, Tasers and feet to subdue a Black man later identified as King, whose name quickly became globally synonymous with police brutality. King was left with skull fractures, broken bones and teeth and permanent brain damage. The commotion outside his window awoke Holliday, who recorded the beating just after midnight and contacted KTLA5 later that day.
Why did people ever think that bodycams would lead to more accountability when the most famous video of police brutality led to so little?