Rodney King

Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965 – June 17, 2012) was an African American victim of police brutality. 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 Interstate 210. An uninvolved resident, George Holliday, saw and filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage, which showed King on the ground being beaten, to a local news station, KTLA. The station broadcast the film, which was rebroadcast by other stations, with this exposure precipitating riots.

At a press conference, Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates announced that the four officers who were 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 on his chest where he had been jolted with a stun gun. King described how he had knelt, spread his hands out, then slowly tried to move so as not to make any "stupid moves", before being hit across the face by a billy club, and shocked with a stun gun. King also said that he was scared for his life when the officers drew their guns on him.