VIDEO: Missouri Rep. References Rodney King, Steps Into It

The last day of the Missouri legislative session kicked up controversy on Friday. It is National Police Week, so representatives have been honoring law enforcement in their morning remarks. Representative Barry Hovis (R-Whitewater), a former police officer, wanted to speak on the topic.

Hovis said that 246 police died across the U.S. in 2022. He went on to point out that, of the more than 50 million police interactions that occur every year, most are peaceful.

Then things took a left turn.

"Back when I was in law enforcement, they had the Rodney King incident," Hovis said.


In March 1991, Rodney King was pulled over by Los Angeles police and was beaten during his arrest for driving while intoxicated. The incident was caught on video, which was unusual at the time, and King later won $3.8 million in a lawsuit against the city. The officers involved were acquitted, which led to riots in Los Angeles.

Hovis didn't get into the brutality of the incident. Instead, he suggested King was impaired. "Obviously, I think Mr. King at that time was under the influence of drugs" — and in the "fog of his brain," didn't understand the commands given by officers.

He didn't stop there.

"Not even three, four weeks after that verdict was handed down on the officers... I was working midnight shift, and we had a bullpen in our jail. And we didn't have cameras in there, but we had audio devices. ... And there were six guys in the bullpen, a couple of them that I knew, and they were talking about the Rodney King incident," Hovis said.

"All of them said, 'I'd take a butt whooping for a few million dollars.' And then they started talking about which officers they thought had the shortest temper that they could actually entice into assaulting them. ... They were planning and thinking, 'How can I become a millionaire?'"


Then Hovis led a prayer that included the line, "Dear Lord, remind these officers of the law that they are blessed peacemakers."

Representative Jamie Johnson (D-Kansas City) was frustrated with the speech.

She had no objection to honoring law enforcement. She objected to blaming Rodney King, who was a victim of police brutality himself, for other people's criminal behavior.

"I just felt like that was wholly unnecessary and even unprofessional. And it's just a testament to how we continue to say things that don't matter, do things that are harmful to people for no other reason than being hateful, being spiteful, and being ugly," she tells the RFT.

"We do appreciate law enforcement," she adds. "But we can do that without disparaging others, individually or collectively."

On the House floor, Johnson followed Hovis by expressing frustration about the unkindness, and obliquely referenced the transgender bills passed this week that bar minors from starting gender-affirming care and trans people from competing on the sports team of the gender they identify with.

"We continue in this body to demonstrate that kindness is not a priority," Johnson said during her rebuttal.

Hovis says that he didn't mean any malice with his remarks and that he wasn't trying to defend the officers who beat King.

"What I probably should have done, because I didn't realize that there were people that would be offended that I used Mr. King's name, I probably should have said 'prior incidents that I was involved in in my law enforcement career,'" he says.


He says he was trying to highlight the last part of his speech, saying that after he told his captain what the inmates said about provoking police officers, training was updated to help prevent police from being provoked.

Representative Peter Merideth (D-St. Louis) was also frustrated with Hovis' remarks and attempted to rebut them on floor. He points out that this is not the first time the representative has said something controversial — in 2019, he said most rapes were "dates rapes or consensual rapes." (Hovis later said he misspoke and does not believe there is such a thing as consensual rape.)

On Twitter,  Merideth wrote, "Supporting law enforcement in the incredibly difficult jobs they do, and honoring their sacrifices, is so important. But we don't do that by whitewashing history or forgiving the worst acts committed by some officers."

Hovis says that Merideth is "entitled to his opinion."

As for Johnson, she didn't seem optimistic that her attempts at rebutting Hovis, or Merideth's, had a huge impact. "This is directly on brand for the House," she said. "This is normal AF, unfortunately."

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