rockin'robin

In one of the most disturbing images from the Los Angeles riots, six black assailants dragged Reginald Denny, a 33-year-old truck driver, out of his truck in South Los Angeles and bashed his head in with a brick. A television chopper broadcast the violence live. The attack happened shortly after not-guilty verdicts were handed down in the racially charged trial of the police beating of Rodney King, which kicked off six days of rioting that left dozens dead and thousands injured.

About a mile and a half away, Titus Murphy and his then-girlfriend Terri Barnett were watching the Denny attack on live television. Murphy, who was an unemployed engineer at the time, couldn't believe what he saw.

"When this gentleman was getting beat something was just telling me this isn't right, this isn't what it's all about," he told Yahoo News 20 years later. "When he got hit in the head with the brick something told me to go down there. I just reacted."

Murphy and Barnett drove about a block away from the now infamous corner of Normandie and Florence to see if the rioters would let them get any closer. Murphy saw that Denny had managed to drag himself back into the cab of the truck, which was moving very slowly. Murphy ran to the passenger side and jumped on the running board; he saw a woman named Lei Yuille comforting Denny inside the cab. Just then, a hulking guy named Bobby Green leaped on the running board of the other side. The two stared at each other through the windows, each fearing the other was a rioter.

"I asked him, 'Who are you? What are you going to do?'" Murphy says. "He said, 'What are you going to do?' I didn't know he was thinking the same thing I was thinking. I figured I had to take him on, he figured he had to take me on. We were both over 6 feet tall. I told him I was going to drive the truck and he said, 'I'm a truck driver.' That was the end of that."

Green jumped in and drove the massive truck a terrifying three miles to the hospital, with Murphy's girlfriend Barnett guiding the way by driving in the car in front. Murphy clung to the outside of the truck for the entire journey, feigning to be a rioter by pounding on the outside of the vehicle as if he had taken it for loot.

"There were cars approaching us and swinging bats and sticks and guns and stuff," he said. "I had to pretend that I was part of the riot so that the people in the cars wouldn't try to take us on or try to take advantage of the truck again. I started beating on the truck like it was mine. The trick really worked."

From his position on the running board, Murphy was also able to guide Green, who couldn't see through the truck's cracked windows. "Each one of us could not carry on the task without the other," says Murphy. "Bobby couldn't drive the truck without me on the outside. Mr. Denny was attended to from the inside [by Yuille], and we couldn't drive the truck without Terry in the front of us."

The result was a perfect collaboration. "We all came together as a team," he says. "It was like it was meant to be."

After extensive surgery, Denny survived the beating, but his speech and ability to walk were damaged permanently. His four rescuers, who were all black, became a symbol of hope in the devastating violence that engulfed the city for three days.

"I was just helping a person who was in need," says Murphy. "I didn't look at his race at all. Never thought about it once."

Murphy and the three other rescuers haven't kept in touch, he says, but he remembers them fondly. Denny has moved to Arizona and shunned media attention for most of the past 20 years, although he did reportedly accept an apology from one of his attackers.

Murphy now lives in Escondido with his wife and children. He worries that the anger of 20 years ago could bubble up again today. America still has a class of "have-nots" who need better opportunities to get ahead, he says. "In every major city in America and in cities all over the world the same thing could happen," says Murphy,"until we decide as a people that we work together and stop looking at things as race but realize we're all one."

Some of the footage of their scary drive to the hospital is shown here, in a local news interview with Murphy.

L.A. riots: Good Samaritan remembers his scary truck-driver rescue | The Lookout - Yahoo! News

Deafness

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Barbaro

I remember when that video came out, it was shocking. We had a discussion at a middle school. A year later, the riots broke out, and I wasn't in CA at a point.

I didn't know Murphy lives in Escondido, which is a violent city that rule by drug dealers and gangs. I even can smell meth or cocaine in the air. Recently, DEA had discovered drug dealers in nice houses that ran secretly.

It amazes me that Denny forgave them after his skull got smashed in by a brick. Powerful stuff. There is one thing that I never forget about Koreatown that was heavily hit. Korean-Americans had balls to fight rioters with guns to protect their businesses after LA cops abandoned them.

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Steinhauer

The man deserves a Congressional Medal of Honor.

Actually, all of Denny's rescuers deserve one.

rolling7

Seconded

rockin'robin

Agree...he's one good, up-standing man.

kokonut

The most vivid scene I still remember today is when some idiotic, moronic dude threw a brick at a driver's head while he was on the ground and the guy laughed threw his hands up in the air. This was captured from overhead from a helicopter. Bunch of vicious people that day. OTH, many were heros, too.

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"... turns out they are telling the truth."

Reba

They are certainly good role models for all people. Caring about other people, taking action, overcoming fear in the face of danger, and working together.

Yes, I remember the TV news footage of the attack. It was chilling.

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kokonut

And the people had the idiocy to trash some of their own stores, neighborhoods.

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"... turns out they are telling the truth."

Jiro

I remembered the video of trucker getting struck by a brick but since I was just a kid at that time, I didn't follow this story.

Are you sure the people who did those are from same neighborhoods?

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Barbaro

Yeah, that guy's name is Williams. He is from South Central LA. Well, as CA native, it has been a habit of me keep saying "Central" because "Central" has been removed about 10 years ago, and doesn't want to be associated with violence, poverty, etc. Many "latinos" still are at war with blacks because Williams was seen beating up a "latino" on camera. I recall Mexican Mafia had a contract out for him. He is in prison for life sentence for the murder of a drug dealer.

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Waterboy

Four Black men attacked Denny; 3 people came to his rescue...2 of them Black men. The other was a woman and a girlfriend of one of the men.

CrazyPaul

BOBBY GREEN - The L.A. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King - TIME

Steinhauer

and your point?

Waterboy

Just poiinting out that Black guys came to the aid of a white guy. The opinion around here seems to be that Black guys only commit crimes against white people.

Steinhauer

No, that would be the points you have been making. No one else except you, and only you, has been saying that.

Well, there was that one other racist, I think ..... wait ... nope, it was just you.

Waterboy

You are very confused. I never said anything close to that. Jiro was right when he said you needed to focus.

Steinhauer

Focus on what? The racist posts you have been making?

Nah, I think I will ignore them. But anyway.

Reba

"The opinion around here..." Whose opinion is that? Certainly not mine.

BTW, why do you always uppercase Black and lowercase white? In journalism, we call that a style inconsistency. What do you call it?

Barbaro

Are deaf kids bullied/harrassed more frequently than hearing kids in mainstream?

Woman Alleges 13 Year Affair with Cain

I've never seen that before except from jillio.

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Jiro

uh ooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

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kokonut

Might be a superiority complex issue?

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"Restriction on free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."
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"... turns out they are telling the truth."

DeafTim

Oh man,I remember that day and the victim...very gruelsome.. I flew to Chicago that yr in summer to see the Cubs play... nothing happened.. I was only 15.

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Frisky Feline

jiro needs to teach me how to find good stuff on google.

Waterboy

Because Black is a racial ID and white is just a description. Caucasion is a racial ID.

Waterboy

You must not have seen too many writings from Black people.

Waterboy

You are a funny little guy.

Waterboy

“Black” is also accepted by many Black people as an inoffensive description. It is a generalized description and can be supplemented by another description such as Black Canadian, Black African American, Nigerian American or Black Latino. However, many Black people describe themselves simply as being “Black,” and this reality is reflected in a body of literature, music and academic study.

I do not believe “white” needs to be capitalized because people in the white majority don’t think of themselves in that way. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this–it’s just how it is. The exception is white supremacists who have a definite vision for what “white” means


Why the 'B' in 'Black' Is Capitalized at DiversityInc | DiversityInc - Cultural Diversity - Diversity Management - Workplace Diversity - Workforce Diversity

Steinhauer

African American is a racial ID, black is a description. It is also a color, just like red and yellow. I am part Native American, but I am not called a red.

Waterboy

See post 27.

Steinhauer

see post #28