after the two passengers were placed in the patrol car, five white los angeles police department (lapd) officers – stacey koon, laurence powell, timothy wind, theodore briseno, and rolando solano – surrounded king, who came out of the car last. they tasered him, struck him dozens of times with side-handled batons and tackled him to the ground before handcuffing him. sergeant koon later testified at trial that king resisted arrest and that he believed king was under the influence of pcp at the time of the arrest, which caused him to be very aggressive and violent toward the officers. video footage of the arrest showed that king attempted to get up each time he was struck and that the police made no attempt to cuff him until he lay still. a subsequent test of king for the presence of pcp in his body at the time of the arrest was negative.