Inglewood Is Expected to Take Verdict Calmly

"This is not like Rodney King; customers are not talking about the case," said Shawn Harrington, 32, manager of Inglewood Sports Center on Market Street, the city's main drag.

"Everybody is too busy talking about Kobe," he added, referring to the sexual assault case against Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

In public buildings, retail shops and restaurants across Inglewood, residents said they had few fears of civil unrest in the coming days, even if former officer Jeremy Morse is acquitted of using excessive force on Donovan Jackson. The then-16-year-old Inglewood resident was videotaped being thrown onto the trunk lid of a police cruiser and punched in the head.

Hoping to avoid a repeat of the violence that followed the acquittal of Los Angeles police officers in the Rodney King case, Inglewood officials began an outreach campaign more than a year ago.

Along Market Street, large posters proclaiming "Peace after the Verdict" line storefront windows.

Many residents interviewed Monday believe that such pleas are unnecessary because the Jackson case has mustered far less interest and resentment than the King case.

Harrington moved to Inglewood shortly before the Rodney King riots and said there was much greater tension then over issues of race and law enforcement.

"With Rodney King, you could feel it was just ready to blow. It was so tense you could cut it with a knife," he said. "But I just don't see this being that major. It's not on too many people's minds as they come through the door."

There were few shoppers along Market Street's broad sidewalks Monday, but those who were there said they had taken only a casual interest in the case. They also said much had changed since the riots in 1992, when those neighborhoods hardest hit by violence and looting were those that most resented police abuse of minorities.

"It's not going to be a riot," said Kameron Hightower, 20, a student at Cal State Northridge. The King riots "didn't make any sense. Why go out and loot your own neighborhood?"

Hightower, who waited outside the Creating Images salon to get her hair braided, said people would be much more likely to express anger through protests, petitions and complaints to government officials -- if they voiced any anger at all.