Rodney King Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rodney King Case - Essay Example The driver of the speeding vehicle was Rodney Glenn King. He and two fellow passengers were intoxicated at that time. When the car chase ended, the other two did not resist arrest but Rodney King did. According to the police officers present at the scene, he acted aggressively, seemingly threatening the officers. So, they beat him. In fact, within a few minutes 4 officers had badly kicked Rodney King, shocked him, and used a taser gun and batons. Rodney King sustained eleven skull fractures and major kidney damage (VanHise, n.d.). Had it not been for George Holliday no one would have known of this in-humane behavior. George lived in a nearby flat and happened to have a camera with which he recorded the entire incident. He later gave the tape to a local news channel and by the next day, March 4th 1991, the video was playing on news channels everywhere (BBC, 2002). LAPD maintained that officers acted in self-defense. But the now infamous George Holliday video showed a merciless beating of a man who apparently possessed no weapons of any kind and was under the influence of alcohol and looked to be harmless. The video tape got humongous publicity, and due to the public outrage brought on by it, prosecutors filed charges against some of the police officers involved that night (BBC, 2002). ... Everyone reacted with disbelief but for many, the very first emotion they felt was anger. Jury’s decision was the last spark needed to ignite riots from thousands of people from suppressed communities of Los Angeles (CNN Wire Staff. 2011). Three days of rioting ensued causing a loss of nearly $1 billion in L.A. alone. The riots then extended to other U.S. cities as well leading to 12000 arrests, 2000 reported injuries and 55 deaths. The extensive riots led to a federal civil rights trial of the four accused officers (Delk, 1995). This time around justice was served. The grand jury returned indictments against the officers on the 4th of August. The indictments were for three of the police officers for knowingly and deliberately harming an unarmed individual. Koon was accused because he allowed this illegal act to proceed and did not make an attempt to prevent it from happening. A compensation of 3.8 million dollars was given to Rodney as well (Linder, 2011). That beating on Mar ch 3, 1991 was not King’s last run-in with the law. In the years following the trial he was arrested many times. He has been arrested on charges of domestic abuse, DUI, robbing a convenience store and beating the clerk. Most of his problems stem from his addiction to alcohol. King’s parole officer Tim Fowler, describes him as a guy who can intelligently function in society. His problem, according to Tim, is alcoholism. King started drinking at an early age. Born is Sacramento in 1965, King was an exceptional athlete at his school and was attached to his father who passed away sooner than King would have liked. King helped his father in cleaning commercial buildings taking the late night shift of 5 pm to 2 am. This really disturbed his

Ideological conflicts in medical research Essay

Ideological conflicts in medical research - Essay Example This paper begins with the purpose of medical researches that is to invent new medicines for addressing ailments. If such medicines are tested in animals, we may fail to accurately predict the exact repercussions of such medicines on human beings. It is not sure that all medicines that work on animals should work on human beings. Moreover, a positive dimension of this is that it reduces the unethical treatment of animals in the name of medical research. For, human beings and other animals have equal importance in this world. Therefore, an experiment for the betterment of his race must be done on himself. One may say that all experimentations carried on in medical field intend the common good of the mankind and hence there is no problem in taking a few as the means to reach the end. However, humanitarians are always against treating man as means. The exponents who argue that man must only be treated as an end may put forward the following arguments. If a person participates in a new d rug application trial, his primary reason can be that he gets an opportunity to get extra money. He believes that the doctor will do his/her part well and no harm will be caused to him. In fact, if that person meets with any serious disaster during the trial, no one will be responsible since the individual has taken the decision at his own discretion. Therefore, it is not ethical to deploy human beings for such dangerous experiments. The reason lies with the fact that a physician always tries to save one’s life by all means whereas, a researcher tries to generate knowledge experimenting with the patients. (Boomgaarden & Louhiala, 2003, p. 101). Evidently, the subject’s life is put in danger. At this juncture, the ethical perception of a researcher is set in dispute. For, the researcher will not act as a physician but only a researcher; and nobody will be found responsible for a damage caused to the human life underwent experimentation (ibid). In addition, since man is superior to all, his security and wellbeing must be given prime consideration. If samples of trial medicines are first tested on animals there is a privilege of identifying the likely bad effects on man. Hence, potential risks against the subjects can be eliminated that way. In the same way, it is highly unethical to use captivated person, mentally retarded persons and persons who are regarded as less worthy as subjects without their consent. For example, the Nazi experiments conducted in Concentration Camps during Second World War (Standler, 2000). It must be noted that, as an individual, the doctor cannot take any measure or try any course of action without the assent of the person captivated or compelled to undergo experimentation. Moreover, due to the application of the untested medicines the survivor is likely to give in for other kinds of ailments though he is not directly affected by the experiment shortly (ibid). On the other hand, it is not always possible to use man as end due to a number of constraints. Therefore, according to this opinion, man must be used as means as well. Such trials are usually conducted on relatively small number of healthy volunteers.