Rodney King
April 2, 1965 — Sacramento, California
Rodney King was an American man whose 1991 beating by Los Angeles police officers — filmed and broadcast worldwide — sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots and became a defining moment in the American debate over police use of force and racial justice.
March 3, 1991
Rodney Glen King was born on April 2, 1965, in Sacramento, California. He was working as a construction worker and living in Los Angeles when, on the night of March 3, 1991, he was stopped by California Highway Patrol officers after a high-speed chase. What followed — King's beating by multiple LAPD officers while he lay on the ground — was filmed by a neighbor, George Holliday, from his apartment balcony.
The footage, shot on a consumer camcorder and made available to local news outlets, became one of the most widely seen pieces of video in American broadcast history. It showed officers striking King more than 50 times with batons while he was on the ground. The images shocked a broad swath of American society and prompted immediate calls for investigation. Four officers were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and use of excessive force.
The Acquittals and the Los Angeles Riots
The trial of the four officers was moved to Simi Valley, a suburb whose demographics differed sharply from Los Angeles proper. On April 29, 1992, the jury — which included no Black members — acquitted the officers on almost all charges. The verdicts, delivered despite the widely seen video evidence, triggered immediate and explosive unrest in Los Angeles.
The 1992 Los Angeles riots lasted six days. Fifty-five people were killed, more than 2,000 were injured, and approximately $1 billion in property was destroyed. It was the deadliest civil unrest in the United States since the 1967 Detroit riots. On the second day, as the city burned, Rodney King appeared before cameras and delivered remarks that — reduced to a question — have become one of the most quoted statements of the late 20th century: "Can we all get along?"
Two of the four officers were subsequently convicted in federal court on civil rights violations charges. The case prompted significant national conversations about police use of force, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and citizen recording of law enforcement — conversations that took on renewed urgency in subsequent decades.
Did You Know?
King received a $3.8 million civil settlement from the City of Los Angeles following the federal trials. He wrote a memoir, The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption (2012), in which he reflected on the events, their aftermath, and his own struggles with addiction and mental health in the decades following. The book was published just months before his death.
Later Life and Legacy
Rodney King's life after 1992 was marked by continued personal difficulties — multiple arrests for various offenses, struggles with alcohol — as well as moments of reflection and advocacy. He spoke frequently about his wish for a more just and peaceful society and was candid about the toll that being an involuntary symbol of a national crisis had taken on him.
He died on June 17, 2012, found at the bottom of his swimming pool in Rialto, California. He was 47. The cause was accidental drowning with contributing factors including alcohol and drugs. The circumstances of his death renewed attention to the lasting psychological damage inflicted by trauma and by the particular experience of being made famous against one's will by an act of violence.
His legacy is inseparable from the larger history of civil rights in America. The moment when ordinary life was documented by an ordinary person and that footage changed the national conversation foreshadowed a world in which nearly every public encounter between police and citizens might be recorded — a technological shift whose consequences are still unfolding. King's own words remain relevant long after his death: the question of whether people can get along, and the conditions that make it possible or impossible, continues to define American life.