Reginald Oliver Denny (b. 21 April, 1953, San Pedro, California - ) is a construction truck driver made famous when he was dragged from his truck and nearly beaten to death by black rioters during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. News footage of the attack shot by a helicopter was broadcast around the world.

Background

On March 3, 1991, Rodney King was video taped being repeatedly beaten by a group of LAPD officers. Over a year later, on April 29, 1992, all four officers (three white and one hispanic) were acquitted when the almost all white jury could not reach a verdict. The result sparked outrage across the country, especially in South Central and South East Los Angeles where a largely minority mob took to the streets shouting "black justice"[1] and "No justice, no peace!"

Events of April 29, 1992

Denny loaded his red eighteen-wheel truck with twenty-seven tons of sand, on April 29, 1992, at 5:39 PM, and started on his way to the plant in Inglewood, where the sand was due. He left the Santa Monica Freeway soon after and took a familiar shortcut across Florence Avenue to get to his destination. He entered the Normandie intersection at 6:46 PM where he heard people shouting at him to stop and saw rocks being thrown at his windows.

As Denny moved forward, a man named Antoine Miller (b. 1972) opened the truck door, giving others the chance to pull him out. Another man named Henry Keith Watson (b. 1965) then held Denny's head down with his foot. Another man kicked him in his stomach. A man in a Malcolm X t-shirt, who had previously that day led a liquor store break-in, hurled a five pound piece of medical equipment at Denny's head and hit him three times with a claw hammer. A man named Damian Monroe Williams (b. March 17, 1973) then threw a slab of concrete (mistaken for a "brick") at Denny's head and knocked him unconscious. Williams then did a victory dance over Denny. He then flashed a gang sign at news helicopters above (All this was filmed and shown live as it happened) and pointed at Denny. A man named Anthony Brown then spit on Denny and left with Williams.

Various men, after the beating had ended, threw beer bottles at the unconscious Denny. Gary Williams (b. 1959), a drug addict who hung around the area, approached Denny and rifled through his pockets. Lance Parker, a process server for a law firm, stopped near the body and attempted to shoot the gas tank of Denny's truck but missed.

A number of local black residents, watching the events on TV, came to Denny's aid: Two men, Bobby Green, and Titus Murphy, and two women, Terri Barnett, and Lei Yuille. Bobby Green (b. 1967) was a trucker with a license that allowed him to drive Denny's truck. They got Denny in the truck and Green drove him to a hospital. Denny, there, had a seizure but was brought back.

Paramedics who attended to Denny said he came very close to death. His skull was fractured in ninety-one places and pushed into the brain. His left eye was so badly dislocated that it would have fallen into his sinus cavity had not the surgeons replaced the crushed bone with a piece of plastic. A permanent crater remains in his head, despite attempts to correct it.

The trials of the assailants

On May 12th, outgoing Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates started a search for three of Denny's attackers identified from the video of the beating. Gates himself arrested Damian Williams while Henry Watson and Antoine Miler were arrested by other officers. Gary Williams, soon after, gave himself up to the police, as he had stolen Denny's wallet. The arrested three were suspected to be part of the gang 8-Tray Gangster Crips.

Gary pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and assault in the spring of 1993 and was sentenced to three years in jail. Judge John W. Ouderkirk, granted Miller a separate trial on the grounds that the strong evidence against Watson and Damian could harm his case. The two, in addition to assault charges, were charged with attempted murder. Damian was also charged with aggravated mayhem.

Edie O. M. Faal (b. Gabon), was the defense attorney for Damian and Earl C. Broady was Watson's. On Wednesday, July 28th, 1993, Watson's and Damian's trial began presided by Judge Ouderkirk. The two were charged with assault of Denny, five other motorists and two fire fighters who were driving past the intersection of Florence and Normandie shortly after the start of the Los Angeles riots on April 29, 1992. Denny faced his attackers for the first time since he was beaten, at the trial. On August 12, 1993, a jury of five whites, three blacks, three Latinos, and one Asian were chosen.

Prosecution for the case, like in Rodney King's assailants trial (that led to the LA riots), relied heavily on video shot by a photographer in a helicopter. They also planned to build up portraits of Damian and Watson as criminals, antisocial, and beyond rehabiliation and redemption.

On Thursday, August 19th, Lawrence Morrison, deputy destrict attorney, delivered the opening statement. A week later, the videotape of the beating was shown. Doctors were then brought on to describe Denny's wounds and efforts to repair them. Morrison and the coprosecutor Janet Moore then proceeded to bring forth the witnesses of the beating. The defense was denied direct contact with the witnesses for their protection. In late August Denny's saviors were brought to the witness stand. Then witnesses who placed Damian and Watson at the scene of the crime was brought forth and the prosecution rested their case on September 17th, 1993.

On September 20, the defendant's lawyers began to argue, making a case for unpremeditated assult. Faal began by challenging the video evidence. Then she tried to potray Damian as a victim of poverty and racism. She then joined with Broady to humanize their clients.

In the closing arguements the defense attorneys' claimed Damian and Watson were being used to bring justice to the LA riots. The prosecution counterargued that the two had knowingly tried to kill Denny, and they were no victims.

After a few jury changes the jury arrived at a verdict of not guilty for all charges except a felony count of simple mayhem and one mideameanor assault charge for Damian and one midemeanor assault for Watson on October 18th. Watson was then given credit for time served and was released. As the families of the defendants celebrated the lesser sentences, surprisingly, Denny went over to Damian's mother, Georgina and hugged her. Other family members then exchanged warm embraces and words of reconciliation with him.

The outcome of the trial was said to be "payback" for the acquittal of the four police officer who were charged with beating Rodney King. White communities around the country were outraged. For weeks after in different medias and by the general public, debates about racism and/or fear of the jurists and on whether the verdict was just or unjust raged on. As the debate continued Damian was denied bail and sentenced to 10 years in jail on December 7, 1993 by Judge Ouderkirk. Damian's sentence was shortened because of good behaviour and he was released in 1997. He was issued a life sentence term on December 5th, 2003, for murdering Grover Tinner, a 48-year-old drug dealer, in July 2000. He wouldn't be eligible for parole until he serves a little more than 47 years.

Denny currently lives in Lake Havasu City, Arizona where he is a self-employed boat motor mechanic.

Other related litigation

The best available footage of Denny's beating on April 29, 1992 was filmed from a helicopter operated by a tiny company called Los Angeles News Service . In the rush to cover the riots as they developed, dozens of television networks and stations around the world simply copied and aired the LANS footage without permission.

LANS sued nearly all of them in federal court for copyright infringement; the last case was finally settled in 2004. Only a small handful of stations (mostly in California) already had preexisting agreements with LANS or waited to negotiate agreements before airing the footage, and thus were not sued.