The Other Videotape

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AS THE RODNEY KING CASE WENT TO the jury last week, Los Angeles residents were keeping a wary eye on another case involving a videotaped beating: the assault on white truck driver Reginald Denny by a group of black men at the outset of last year's riot. Although the parallels between the two incidents are largely superficial, many African Americans tend to equate them. The case against the three men accused in the Denny assault has become a symbol of the disparity between how whites and blacks are treated by the criminal-justice system. Many Angelenos fear that a volatile situation will be created if the four officers are exonerated and the Denny defendants are found guilty. Thus a ruling last week by Superior Court Judge John Ouderkirk produced a collective, if temporary, sigh of relief. He postponed the Denny trial until July, which will give the defense time to bolster its claim that the prosecution is racially motivated. The defense points to what it describes as a decade-long pattern of discriminatory prosecutions. If the judge agrees, the case will be dismissed. If it goes to trial, as now seems likely, the videotape will be a key piece of evidence.