What was the riot like that Rick experienced in Miami and how did it affect him?

Rick noted that by Miami standards the riot of June 27, 1991 was small. But he and another writer named Sean found themselves in the middle of it. A police officer had been shot and killed by a black man, and the streets began to erupt. Rick and Sean found themselves on a street where the mob was overturning vehicles and throwing rocks at any car that they saw. Rick believed that he would have been killed that night if Sean had not kept his cool and gotten them to where the police had secured an area.