Rodney King

Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality.

King was born in Sacramento, California, in 1965, the son of Ronald and Odessa King.

He and his four siblings grew up in Altadena, California.

King attended John Muir High School and often talked about being inspired by his social science teacher, Robert E. Jones.

King's father died in 1984 at the age of 42.

King had a daughter with his girlfriend, Carmen Simpson.

He later married Denetta Lyles (cousin to hate crime victim James Byrd Jr. and also cousin to rapper Mack 10) and had a daughter.

King and Lyles were eventually divorced.

He later married and had a daughter with Crystal Waters.

This marriage also ended in divorce.

On March 3, 1991, he was severely beaten by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) during his arrest after a high speed pursuit for driving while intoxicated on the I-210.

An uninvolved resident, George Holliday, saw and filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage, which showed the unarmed King on the ground being beaten after initially evading arrest, to local news station KTLA.

The incident was covered by news media around the world and caused a public uproar.

At a press conference, Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates announced that the four officers involved would be disciplined for use of excessive force and that three would face criminal charges.

The LAPD initially charged King with "felony evading", but later dropped the charge.

On his release, King spoke to reporters from his wheelchair, with his injuries evident: a broken right leg in a cast, his face badly cut and swollen, bruises on his body, and a burn area to his chest where he had been jolted with a stun gun.

He described how he had knelt, spread his hands out, then slowly tried to move so as not to make any "stupid moves", being hit across the face by a billy club, and shocked.

He said he was scared for his life as they drew guns on him.

Four officers were eventually tried on charges of use of excessive force.

Of these, three were acquitted; the jury failed to reach a verdict on one charge for the fourth.

Early in the morning of Sunday, March 3, 1991, King, with his friends Bryant Allen and Freddie Helms, was driving a 1987 Hyundai Excel west on the Foothill Freeway (Interstate 210) in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.

The three had spent the night watching basketball and drinking at a friend's house in Los Angeles.

At 12:30 a.m., officers Tim and Melanie (singer), husband and wife members of the California Highway Patrol, noticed King's car speeding on the freeway.

They pursued King with lights and sirens, and the pursuit reached 117 mph (188 km/h), while King refused to pull over.

King would later say he fled the police hoping to avoid a driving under the influence charge and the parole violation that could follow.

King left the freeway near the Hansen Dam Recreation Area and the pursuit continued through residential streets at speeds ranging from 55 to 80 mph, and through at least one red light.

By this point, several police cars and a police helicopter had joined in the pursuit.

After approximately 8 mi, officers cornered King in his car.

The first five Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers to arrive were Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Rolando Solano.

Officer Tim Singer ordered King and his two passengers to exit the vehicle and to lie face down on the ground.

Allen claims he was manhandled, kicked, stomped, taunted and threatened.

Helms was hit in the head while lying on the ground; he was treated for a laceration on the top of his head.

His bloody baseball cap was turned over to police.

Within hours of the acquittals, the 1992 Los Angeles riots started, sparked by outrage among racial minorities over the trial's verdict and related, longstanding social issues, overlaid with tensions between the African American and Korean American communities.

The rioting lasted six days and killed 63 people, with 2,383 more injured; it ended only after the California Army National Guard, the Army, and the Marine Corps provided reinforcements to re-establish control.

King advocated for a peaceful end to the conflict.

The federal government prosecuted a separate civil rights case, obtaining grand jury indictments of the four officers for violations of King's civil rights.

Their trial in a federal district court ended in April 1993, with two of the officers being found guilty and sentenced to serve prison terms.

The other two were acquitted of the charges.

In a separate civil lawsuit in 1994, a jury found the City of Los Angeles liable and awarded King $3.8 million in damages.