LOS ANGELES (AP) – The motorist whose videotaped beating led to riots in Los Angeles has died. Police say Rodney King was pulled from a swimming pool at his California home early Sunday and pronounced dead at a hospital. He was 47.
Police say the preliminary investigation indicates drowning, with no signs of foul play. Investigators will await autopsy results to determine whether drugs or alcohol were involved, but police say there were no alcoholic beverages or paraphernalia found near the pool.
The San Bernardino County coroner will perform an autopsy on King within 48 hours.
King’s 1991 beating by Los Angeles police officers was caught on video by a bystander. When a suburban jury acquitted the officers in 1992, city residents rioted. Three days of violence left 55 people dead, more than 2,000 injured and swaths of Los Angeles on fire.
In the two decades since, King was arrested several times, mostly for alcohol-related crimes. He became a record company executive and a reality TV star, appearing on shows such as "Celebrity Rehab."
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