Marines, Army soldiers, and the National Guard were also brought in to monitor the streets. [63], Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley offered King $200,000 and a four-year college education funded by the city of Los Angeles. Riots, a slew of documentaries were released in the spring of 2017. [26]:15 Officers obtained King's identification from his clothes pockets at that time. King, who was on parole for robbery at the time, led police on a high-speed chase before the incident occurred. We'll get our justice. ', "Autopsy attributes Rodney King's death to drowning", "Mourners arrive for Rodney King service at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills", "Rodney King Laid To Rest At Forest Lawn", "Rodney King's daughter remembers a human being, not a symbol", "On this day in 1992 Rodney King asked, 'Can't we all just get along? [44][45], The first two seconds of videotape,[46] contrary to the claims made by the accused officers, show King attempting to flee past Laurence Powell. [84], On Father's Day, June 17, 2012, King's partner, Cynthia Kelley, found King dead underwater at the bottom of his swimming pool. [67] With help from a ghostwriter, he later wrote and published a memoir. Lead prosecutor Terry White was black. Martha Esparza, a nurse who worked at the jail ward, would later testify that King was "calm and cooperative," while the officers who brought him in were bragging and joking about the number of times King had been hit. I just knew how it felt to be a slave. Their trial was originally set to be held in Los Angeles, but defense attorneys successfully argued that a fair trial in Los Angeles would be impossible because of the publicity. [2] The footage showed an unarmed King on the ground being beaten after initially evading arrest. With the settlement, King was able to buy a home for his mother, as well as one for himself. George Holliday, a plumber who gained local and national fame when he taped the infamous LA police beating of Rodney King, has died from COVID-19, it was reported; On March 3, 1991, Holliday stood on the balcony and recorded four white LA police officers using batons, Tasers and feet to subdue a Black man later identified as King According to Koon, Powell and Wind used "bursts of power strokes, then backed off". During this time, Rodney King was involved in his own litigious activities with the city. Four white officers of the LAPD had just been acquitted by a nearly all . Buster Merryfield, who was Uncle Albert, died aged 78 in 1999, while Trigger actor Roger Lloyd-Pack died at 69 in 2014 and Boycie star John Challis died at 79 in 2021. While he wasn't the first Black man to be a victim of police brutality, his beating was one of the first to be captured on video and broadcast nationwide. "[On his brutal beating by L.A.P.D. Lawyers for Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, filed the lawsuit in federal court. 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. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but was paroled on December 27, 1990. "I couldn't sleep at night. 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. Burning, Let It Fall, and Spike Lee's Netflix special Rodney King. [79][80] This arrest led to a February 2012 misdemeanor conviction for reckless driving. [35] His successor Gil Garcetti thought that by December 1992, too much time had passed to charge King with evading arrest; he also noted that the statute of limitations on drunk driving had passed. April 20, 2023 Richard J. Riordan, a Queens-born lawyer, businessman and former mayor of Los Angeles who led the city at a particularly divisive time and brought a free-enterprise approach to. Allen claims he was manhandled, kicked, stomped, taunted and threatened. I just knew how it felt to be a slave. [22] She drew her pistol and pointed it at King, ordering him to lie on the ground. We can reimagine public safety by divesting from police and freeing up those dollars to invest in the things that actually bring about safe communities, said Abdullah. "[62], Mitigation cited by the judge in determining the length of the prison sentence included the suffering the officers had undergone because of the extensive publicity their case had received, high legal bills that were still unpaid, the impending loss of their careers as police officers, their higher risks of abuse while in prison, and their undergoing two trials. It was like being raped, stripped of everything, being beaten near to death there on the concrete, on the asphalt. No charges were filed. The first 55 seconds of the videotaped portion of the incident, during which the vast majority of the blows were delivered, was within the law because the officers were attempting to subdue a suspect who was resisting efforts to take him into custody. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Koon reportedly said, "Stop! Photo: Douglas Burrows/Liaison/Getty Images, G. Gordon Liddys Wild Career After Watergate, Name: Rodney King, Birth Year: 1965, Birth date: April 2, 1965, Birth State: California, Birth City: Sacramento, Birth Country: United States. LAPD is still corrupt and violent and brutal, said Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter LA. Rodney King pleads to the rioters to make peace May 1, 1992 in Los Angeles, CA. Kelley had previously served as a juror in King's civil law suit against the City of Los Angeles. This past Sunday, Rodney King died at age 47, closing the book on a troubled life burdened by one of the more tragic cases of unwanted celebrity in recent American history. But once the video was in the hands of the media, it couldn't be swept under the rug. [61], Davies found that King's provocative behavior began with his "remarkable consumption of alcoholic beverage" and continued through a high-speed chase, refusal to submit to police orders and an aggressive charge toward Powell. He and his four siblings grew up in Altadena, California. While driving. Who Is Rodney King? Smaller riots occurred in other U.S. cities such as San Francisco, Las Vegas, Seattle, and as far east as Atlanta and New York City. He failed to yield to police officers and slammed his vehicle into a house, breaking his pelvis. Recent data has repeatedly shown that LAPD officers stop and search Black and Latino residents at significantly higher rates than white residents. 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. The trial was moved to Simi Valley, a predominantly white suburb of L.A. [26]:8 Pacifica Hospital nurses reported that the officers who accompanied King (including Wind) openly joked and bragged about the number of times they had hit King. The officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Stacey Koon were charged with criminal offenses, including assault with a deadly weapon. [26]:6 Taser wire can be seen on King's body. The police chase after King had ended in front of an apartment building, waking one of the tenants with the sound of helicopters at 1:00 AM. Advocates are hopeful that there might be some change under the newly elected LA district attorney, George Gascn, who was backed by progressive groups and pledged to hold police accountable and reopen cases of killings by law enforcement. He would also write that King was only struck about seven times. [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. They've won the battle, but they haven't won the war. 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? During the riots, President George Bush had promised that charges would once more be brought against the officers. On the third day of the riots, King made a public appearance, making his now-famous plea: "People, I just want to say, can't we all get along? Rodney King would have lived and died a complete unknown, were it not for the most famous home video ever made. George Holliday, who famously captured footage of the late Rodney King being beaten by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1991, has reportedly died after contracting COVID-19. 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. There are 244 days left in the year. (PDT). In the claim King later filed with the city, he reported having suffered multiple skull fractures, broken bones and teeth, kidney damage, brain damage, as well as physical and emotional trauma. He reported that the attackers were a man and a woman who demanded his bicycle and shot him when he rode away. My country's been good to me, and I've done some things that wasn't pleasant in my lifetime, and I've been forgiven for that.". In one of his first moves on police accountability, Gascn is hiring a special prosecutor to oversee police misconduct investigations. He rises and rushes toward Powellas argued in court, either to attack Powell or to fleeand King and Powell collided in a rush. Briseno moves in, attempting to stop Powell from striking again, and Powell stands back. He was replaced by a Black chief, Willie Williams, who introduced several changes suggested by an independent commission that investigated the riots. Melina Abdullah speaks during a Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles news conference last month. The defense appealed the case to the US Supreme Court. This belief is actually a crude regurgitation of a myth started by Dr. Hamilton Wright in 1910, which claimed that Black people experienced superhuman strength under the influence of cocaine. I love every I love people of color. He was 47 years old at the time. The camera used to film the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police in 1991, a case that triggered deadly race riots, is to be auctioned this week. Imani Perry: Rodney King, 30 years later King was still suffering more than a year later, on April 29, 1992, when a Simi Valley jury failed to convict any of the police officers who'd beaten. All Rights Reserved. [69] In 1992, he was arrested for injuring his wife, Crystal King. We'll get our day in court, and that's all we want. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King", "Rodney King Comes To Grips With 'The Riot Within'", "LOS ANGELES: Rodney King's Wife Files Petition for Divorce", "Rodney King's Wife Files Petition for Divorce", "Rodney King slams SUV into house, breaks pelvis", "Report: Rodney King Shot in the Face | Fox News", "Sober House will follow Celebrity Rehab cast, Andy Dick in sober living", "Rodney King Forgives Officers Who Beat Him LAist", "No Plan to 'Get Along' When Rodney King Takes on Former Cop", "Rodney King stopped after traffic violation, police say", "Rodney King once again runs afoul of the law, cited for expired license in Arcadia", "Rodney King pleads for calm in Trayvon Martin case", "Los Angeles riots: Rodney King funeral held", "Rodney King Comes To Grips With 'The Riot Within', "911 call reveals frantic moments, fiancee's pleas after finding Rodney King submerged in pool", "Police Beating Victim Who Asked 'Can We All Get Along? Koon orders the officers to "hit his joints, hit the wrists, hit his elbows, hit his knees, hit his ankles". [7], King had a daughter with his girlfriend, Carmen Simpson. The riots and police response to the violent aftermath resulted in the resignation of L.A.P.D. 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. His fiancee, Cynthia Kelley, found him at the bottom of a swimming pool in Rialto, California. His daughter, Lora Dene King, attending a viewing of the Nichols footage. Koon also wrote in his sergeant's log that King was "oblivious to pain." Videotape of the incident shot from a nearby apartment. Dr. Drew Pinsky, who runs the facility, showed concern for King's life and said he would die unless his addictions were treated. Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids? I got ulcers. Moore was 33 when the riots erupted three miles from his home. No one wants to be mad in their own house. Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965 - June 17, 2012) was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality. On August 23, 2012, King's autopsy results were released, stating he died of accidental drowning. King was charged with violating his parole and sent for sixty day to an alcohol treatment center. [38] Due to the extensive media coverage of the arrest, the trial received a change of venue from Los Angeles County to Simi Valley in neighboring Ventura County. It was like being raped, stripped of everything, being beaten near to death there on the concrete, King recalled in an interview with the Guardian in 2012, a month before his death. Despite his untimely death, King's daughter Lora King continues to fight for his legacy. Without Holliday's video, the officers might never have been charged for the assault. The suit seeks a jury trial and . According to police who responded to the scene, there were no preliminary signs of foul play. 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. However, after a three-month trial, a predominantly white jury acquitted the officers, inflaming citizens and sparking the violent 1992 .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Los Angeles riots. There were no smartphones at the time, but a witness filmed the beating from his balcony and gave the footage to a local news station. Still, he could not find anyone interested in seeing the video. Born in Sacramento, California, in 1965, Rodney King grew up mostly in Pasadena, where his family moved soon after his birth. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. 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. Rejecting that offer considering that he'd almost lost his life, King sued the city for $56 million, amounting to approximately $1 million for every strike by the officers. After the 1991 beating, King continued to lead a troubled life, struggling with alcoholism and having brushes with the law. Four officers were eventually tried on charges of use of excessive force. He strongly criticized King, who, he said, provoked the officers' initial actions. Flynn/AP. The federal government prosecuted a separate civil rights case, obtaining grand jury indictments of the four officers for violations of King's civil rights. In the end, King's toxicology report was negative for PCP. He was 47. The officers beat King. . We've got to quit; I mean, after all, I could understand the first upset for the first two hours after the verdict, but to go on, to keep going on like this and to see the security guard shot on the ground it's just not right. More than two decades after being brutally beaten by police officers, in May 2012, King discussed the incident with The Guardian, stating, "It's not painful to relive it. By December 1995, both Koon and Powell had been released from prison. Arguing previous reforms have done little to curb the departments brazenness, they are calling for sweeping change: take away power, and funding, from LAPD. [92][93][94], Rodney King has become a symbol of police brutality, but his family remembers him as a "human, not a symbol". Koon and Powell were sentenced to 30 months in a federal correctional camp. 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. The city of Los Angeles eventually reached a settlement with King, paying him $3.8 million for pain, suffering, and medical bills. Jones. [60], During the three-hour sentencing hearing, US District Judge John G. Davies accepted much of the defense version of the beating. King reportedly led them on a high-speed chase, running a red light and nearly causing an accident before finally stopping near Hansen Dam Park. The group plans to protest every Wednesday outside the leagues offices. The chase began after . King, a Sacramento native, died in Rialto on June 17, 2012, of what was . "[On his brutal beating by L.A.P.D. August 21, 1993: King crashed into a wall near a downtown Los Angeles nightclub. After one year, King was released on parole and a found part-time job as a construction worker at the LA Dodgers' baseball stadium. I had to learn to forgive. I felt like I was in another world. George Holliday, Who Taped Police Beating of Rodney King, Dies at 61 His shocking video, which played a key role in the prosecution of four officers, presaged the now-common use of cellphones. [27], Koon acknowledged ordering the continued use of batons, directing Powell and Wind to strike King with "power strokes". By the time King stopped, Officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, Rolando Solano, and Sergeant Stacy Koon had all arrived at the scene. [37], At a press conference, announcing the four officers involved would be disciplined, and three would face criminal charges, Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates said: "We believe the officers used excessive force taking him into custody. [34], King was taken to Pacifica Hospital after his arrest, where he was found to have suffered a fractured facial bone, a broken right ankle, and multiple bruises and lacerations. His work with Dr. Drew Pinsky would continue in Sober House, and during one episode, King revisited the place of the 1991 assault. By the time law enforcement, the California Army National Guard, the United States Army, and the United States Marine Corps restored order, the riots had resulted in 63 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires, damage to 3,100 businesses, and nearly $1 billion in financial losses. [65] The estate of Freddie Helms, the other passenger, settled for $20,000; Helms died in a car crash on June 29, 1991, age 20, in Pasadena. [61] He concluded that Officer Powell never intentionally struck King in the head, and "Powell's baton blow that broke King's leg was not illegal because King was still resisting and rolling around on the ground, and breaking bones in resistant suspects is permissible under police policy. Rialto police conducted a drowning investigation. Now, King Jr. says that while he's aware that the trial in Minneapolis of former Police Officer Derek Chauvin is winding down with closing arguments Monday, his thoughts are with the panel of 12. "[49], Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley created the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, also known as the Christopher Commission, in April 1991. He was 61. While the government thought that the sentence wasn't severe enough and appealed, according to the Los Angeles Times,after a series of back and forths, the original sentence of 30 months was upheld. The officers would write in their report that due to his behavior, they suspected King of being under the influence of PCP, which was believed by the police to give people under its influence superhuman strength. The cops received a 911 call from Cynthia Kelly, Rodney's fiancee, around 5:25 AM. Then L.A. County District Attorney Ira Reiner charged the officers with assault and use of excessive force. 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. Very little has changed, other than theyve gotten better at PR.. And people have forgiven me for some things that I've done and so, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I wasn't able to forgive the officers," he told Harvey. African American victim of police brutality (19652012), Charges against police officers and trial, Mydans, Seth (April 30, 1992). The incident was covered by news media around the world and caused a public furor. While the LAPD had become more racially diverse, she said, she felt they still dont have a regard for human life. I'm not like they're making me out to be. [57], The federal trial focused more on the incident. LAPD's Police Reforms and the Legacy of Rodney King The department's reforms in the decades following the 1992 Los Angeles riots could provide direction for other police forces. [68], King was subject to further arrests and convictions for driving violations after the 1991 incident, as he struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction. [25], At this point, Holliday's video recording shows King on the ground after being tasered by Koon. Compared to the seven blows noted in the police report, Holliday's video shows more than 50 baton blows. In March 1991, black motorist Rodney King was beaten by white police officers in Los Angeles - and it was caught on camera. In 1993,King entered an alcohol rehab program after crashing his car in downtown Los Angeles, although according to theAssociated Press, in 1995, he was once again arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. She had remained in law enforcement and was a Sheriff's Detective at the time of her death. [12][13] King later said he tried to outrun the police because a charge of driving under the influence would violate his parole for his previous robbery conviction. 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. The role that the assault played in King's life and the role it played in the civil rights movement were inextricable, but King's book gave him a chance to separate "Rodney King the man" from "Rodney King the movement.". King was arrested once more in 1999 for a domestic altercation and sentenced to 90 days in jail in addition to being required to attend a batterer's treatment program. The officers struck King 56 times. The cause of death was accidental drowning. The riots exploded only when that promise of justice seemed so flagrantly flouted by the jury, said Armour. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of the drug PCP, after he lost control of his SUV and slammed into a power pole in Rialto, California. 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. The acquittal was as horrifying as the video, he said: The whole world saw it. He wasnt surprised that people rose up: That is the only way they hear us sometimes.. King, whose videotaped beating by police officers led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots . But despite the fact that everyone at the label was well-intentioned, few had knowledge of the music industry, and the label soon went under. 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 1992 LA riots erupted after four police officers, filmed severely beating black taxi driver Rodney King, were acquitted of assault. After the beating, King continued to struggle with alcoholism and had several more run-ins with police over the years. With police brutality still a contentious, emotive issue, historian Benjamin Houston investigates. The officers pulled him out of the car and beat him brutally, while amateur cameraman George Holliday caught it all on videotape. [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. But police are fighting for even less accountability, to make it even harder for officers to be fired or disciplined. Witnesses also claimed King appeared not to resist. [85][86] King died 28 years to the day after his father, Ronald King, was found dead in his bathtub in 1984.[87]. June 17, 2012 -- Rodney King, the man who was at the center of the Los Angeles police brutality case that later sparked the Los Angeles riots has died.