Inciting Incident
On the evening of Wednesday, August 11, 1965, 21-year-old Marquette Frye, an African American man, was pulled over by white California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer Lee Minikus on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Minikus was convinced that Frye was under the influence and radioed for his vehicle to be impounded. Marquette's brother Ronald, a passenger in the vehicle, walked to their house nearby, bringing their mother back with him.
Backup police officers arrived and attempted to arrest Frye by using physical force to subdue him. As the situation intensified, growing crowds of local residents watching the exchange began yelling and throwing objects at the police officers. Frye's mother and brother fought with the officers and they were eventually arrested along with Marquette. After the Fryes' arrests, the crowd continued to grow. Police came to the scene to break up the crowd a few times that night, but were attacked by rocks and concrete. Twenty-nine people were arrested. The incident of a young man similar to Marquette Frye, and the ensuing riots in the Watts area of Los Angeles were featured in the TV mini-series "The '60s".
Read more about this topic: Watts Riots
Famous quotes containing the words inciting and/or incident:
“One sparrow is worth a thousand gulls,
When it sings. The gull sits on chimney-tops.
He mocks the guinea, challenges
The crow, inciting various modes.
The sparrow requites one, without intent.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?”
—Henry James (1843–1916)