On March 3, 1991, he was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers during his arrest after a pursuit for driving while intoxicated on the I-210. Alcohol and drug tests would later show that King had been over the legal limit while driving and had a trace amount of marijuana in his system, but not much else was noted by doctors at the time. Doctors gave King several stitches, noting in his medical records that he suffered from a broken cheekbone and broken right ankle. / CBS News. He was caught, convicted, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The 1992 LA riots erupted after four police officers, filmed severely beating black taxi driver Rodney King, were acquitted of assault. recalled in an interview with the Guardian, gave hugely inaccurate data to the LA Times, fired two final shots while Hernandez was on the ground. George Holliday, the plumber who in the early morning hours of March 3, 1991, captured on his bulky video camera a group of white L.A.P.D. Armour said the riots had been followed by some financial investments in South LA, but no meaningful LAPD reforms. With police brutality still a contentious, emotive issue, historian Benjamin Houston investigates. In his report, Officer Powell wrote that King was only temporarily halted by the Taser before appearing to attack again. The officers struck King 56 times. Police associations have been the primary force that has really enabled this explosion of brutal and violent policing, said Abdullah. The LAPD initially charged King with "felony evading", but later dropped the charge. The incident was covered by news media around the world and caused a public furor. He failed to yield to police officers and slammed his vehicle into a house, breaking his pelvis. The city of Los Angeles eventually reached a settlement with King, paying him $3.8 million for pain, suffering, and medical bills. That case, known as the Rampart scandal, led to federal oversight, and a number of reform efforts were adopted in the following years, including implicit bias training, de-escalation efforts, community outreach work, audits, improved data collection, training on community policing, and increased diversity of the force. By George E. Curry NNPA Columnist Rodney King would be the first to tell you that he was no Martin Luther King, Jr. or Malcolm X. Can't we all get along. And when, despite the vicious behavior seen in the video, the officers involved in the assault were found not guilty, their acquittal sparked what would become known as the Los Angeles Riots of 1992. [clarification needed] On March 9 of the 1993 trial, King took the witness stand and described to the jury the events as he remembered them. The trial would begin about a year after the incident, on March 5, 1992, and after seven days of deliberations, on April 29, the jury came up with a not guilty verdict for the four officers in regards to their use of excessive force. I'm not like they're making me out to be. For most of the video, King would be on the ground. According to NPR, the unrest started less than three hours after the verdicts were reported. The 2020 short story "The Last Days of Rodney" by Tracey Rose Peyton takes on King's final days and his death. [50], Though few people at first considered race an essential factor in the case, including Rodney King's attorney, Steven Lerman,[51] the Holliday videotape was at the time stirring deep resentment among black people in Los Angeles, as well as other major cities in the United States, where they had often complained of police abuse against their communities. I didn't want to be angry my whole life. According to NPR, despite his best efforts, King said the battle for sobriety was continuous. While his father would drink and listen to country music, King and his brother would buffer the floors until 2:00 AM, barely having a chance to get some sleep before having to wake up for school in the morning. According toEl Pas, Holliday was about 40 meters away from the scene, and his camera was able to capture the sounds and images of a beating that would last eight minutes. After four white police officers were acquitted for the beating of Rodney King in April 1992, protests turned violent as the LA riots left 53 dead, 2,000 injured, and thousands incarcerated. And in the last month, the LAPD has been twice forced to apologize first after officers allegedly circulated an offensive meme mocking George Floyd, then after the chief admitted he gave hugely inaccurate data to the LA Times that falsely suggested a major decline in controversial traffic stops. Very little has changed, other than theyve gotten better at PR.. McBrides father is one of the directors of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, one of the unions that aggressively fights reforms, donates to and lobbies elected officials, and defends officers who kill members of the public. [72] On November 29, 2007, while riding home on his bicycle,[64] King was shot in the face, arms, and back with pellets from a shotgun. More than 50 people were killed, more than 2,000 were injured and 9,500 were arrested for rioting, looting and arson, resulting in $1 billion in property damage. The riots exploded only when that promise of justice seemed so flagrantly flouted by the jury, said Armour. He . [78], On September 9, 2010, it was confirmed that King was going to marry Cynthia Kelley, who had been a juror in the civil suit he brought against the City of Los Angeles. Witnessing the scene from his balcony, Holliday decided to start recording. Since Kelly was not too good a swimmer herself, she got a pitchfork and hoe and tried to arouse Rodney before help arrived. When did Rodney King get out of jail? [88][89] Responding officers removed King from the pool and performed CPR on him. Police officers attempted to resuscitate King, who was found at the bottom of his swimming pool, but he was later pronounced dead at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. Flynn/AP. The police commission later ruled that the officer had violated its policies when she fired two final shots while Hernandez was on the ground. Holiday's name became known after he recorded footage in 1991 of a group of police officers beating and shocking 25-year-old motorist Rodney King. I mean, we're all stuck here for a while. [5] 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, as well as the Marine Corps provided reinforcements to re-establish control. No charges were filed. In 1991, Rodney King was brutally beaten while being arrested for drunk driving on the I-210 by four Los Angeles police officers. Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno were acquitted of all charges,[11][59] but both were soon dismissed by the LAPD for their role in the beating. Please enter valid email address to continue. Compared to the seven blows noted in the police report, Holliday's video shows more than 50 baton blows. Instead, in the late 90s, the LAPD was caught in a vast corruption, abuse and drug dealing scandal, in which police framed civilians and falsified reports, leading to more than 100 wrongful convictions. Thirty years after the savage assault on Rodney King, the Los Angeles police department is facing a reckoning over its failure to curb brutality, racial profiling and officer misconduct since the historic uprising. During the riots, on May 1, 1992,[56] King made a television appearance pleading for an end to the riots: I just want to say you know can we, can we all get along? A bystander filmed the incident and sent the tape to local news station KTLA. Kelly told the Rialto, Calif., police that King was possibly under the influence of marijuana and alcohol when he died. Others hate me. His father worked two jobs, and when King was eight years old, his dad decided that he would take his children along to his night custodial job. Without Holliday's video, the officers might never have been charged for the assault. He threatened the Korean store owner with an iron bar. After finally catching King's vehicle, police proceeded with the arrest. Let's, you know, let's try to work it out. Powell's report would leave out several important details, such as the presence of Allen and Helms in the car and civilian witnesses at the scene. King, who was on parole for robbery at the time, led police on a high-speed chase before the incident occurred. Rodney King, the Los Angeles motorist whose beating by police was captured on videotape, smiles, 01 May 1992 in Beverly Hills, during a press conference, where he called for the end of violence in the city. [83] Co-authored by Lawrence J. Spagnola, the book describes King's turbulent youth as well as his personal account of the arrest, the trials, and the aftermath. Dr. Drew Pinsky, who runs the facility, showed concern for King's life and said he would die unless his addictions were treated. Two days later, Holliday called LAPD headquarters at Parker Center to let the police department know that he had a videotape of the incident. King advocated for a peaceful end to the conflict. Koon claimed that King was unfazed by either Taser strike, with Officer Solano further corroborating that King proceeded to lunge at Koon. King was charged with violating his parole and sent for sixty day to an alcohol treatment center. officers viciously beating Rodney King, has died. The 17 other LAPD officers who were there and did nothing to prevent the beating faced no repercussions. The footage showed seven officers surrounding the solitary King, with several LAPD officers repeatedly striking a . The officers testified that they tried to physically restrain King before the starting point of the videotape, but King was able to throw them off physically. His work with Dr. Drew Pinsky would continue in Sober House, and during one episode, King revisited the place of the 1991 assault. However, most of the money would end up going to lawyers' fees and the music label King tried to start. [2] The footage showed an unarmed King on the ground being beaten after initially evading arrest. The officers involved in that incident were acquitted the following year and the announcement of the verdict led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots. It was like being raped, stripped of everything, being beaten near to death there on the concrete, on the asphalt. [90] The conclusion of the report stated: "The effects of the drugs and alcohol, combined with the subject's heart condition, probably precipitated a cardiac arrhythmia, and the subject, incapacitated in the water, was unable to save himself. Where Is Acquitted Murderer Candy Montgomery Now? But once the video was in the hands of the media, it couldn't be swept under the rug. According to CNN, King's death was ruled to be an accident, caused by alcohol as well as a variety of drugs in his system. Rodney King was caught by the Los Angeles police after a high-speed chase on March 3, 1991. March 3, 1991: After being seen speeding on the 210 freeway by CHP officers, King . - Rodney King died as the result of an accidental drowning, according to the San Bernardino County Coroner's official report released Thursday. Astrological Sign: Aries, Death Year: 2012, Death date: June 17, 2012, Death State: California, Death City: Rialto, Death Country: United States, Article Title: Rodney King Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/rodney-king, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: October 19, 2020, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014.