Rodney King, key figure in LA riots, found dead | Fox News


Rodney King, the black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers was the touchstone for one of the most destructive race riots in the nation's history, died Sunday. He was 47.

King's fiancé called 911 at 5:25 a.m. to report that she found him at the bottom of the swimming pool at their home in Rialto, Calif., police Lt. Dean Hardin said.

Wasn't he into some heavy drugs? I'm surprised he survived as long as he did.

What is it lately with pools of water and drug addicts.

He couldn't get along with himself?

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

His mysterious demise caused ripples in the tight knit swimming pool community.

__________________

Worked for Shatner.

__________________
For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

Clk's Ebay Stuff BUY SOMETHING NOW!!!

Gee I'll miss him. His contributions were exceptional.

__________________
- Brian



1969 Porsche 911S Targa
1971 Mercedes 300SEL 6.3
1966 Mercedes 250SE Cabriolet

Yeah, when he won all that money and bought a house with a pool his girlfriend urged him to join the YMCA so he could learn to swim.

Problem was he was afraid of clubs so he never joined.

__________________

lmao

The first event that started it all :

"King was stopped for speeding on a darkened street on March 3, 1991. Four Los Angeles police officers hit him more than 50 times with their batons, kicked him and shot him with stun guns.
A man who had quietly stepped outside his home to observe the commotion videotaped most of it and turned a copy over to a TV station. It was played over and over for the following year, inflaming racial tensions across the country."

Second event, no blacks on the jury, what wuz they thinkin?


"It seemed that the videotape would be the key evidence to a guilty verdict against the officers, whose trial was moved to the predominantly white suburb of Simi Valley, Calif. Instead, on April 29, 1992, a jury with no black members acquitted three of the officers; a mistrial was declared for a fourth."

And finally, the result of the violence begun by the first and second events:


"Violence erupted immediately, starting in South Los Angeles."

__________________
1991 560SEL, 1984 300DT

Man Carleton.... Nothing like kicking a man when he is down!

well, the mess that was the Latasha Harlins case also contributed to the events. backstory is important.

__________________
"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

He was an unfortunate man who seems to have led an unfortunate life. He happened to be in the middle of events that led to efforts to clean up corruption in the police departments so for that we can thank him even though he did it only by being a victim.

I don't feel like ridiculing him.

Sad life sad end.

__________________
Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 82 240d, 83 300TD with five speed, 03 Dodge 3/4 ton with cummins six speed; I have had about 33 benzes. I am building a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup street rod at the moment in which I plan to install a 617 and a five speed manual.....or a 64 stude v8.

I'm sure hers as well as other stories contributed to the events. I remember seeing the video played over and over.

__________________
1991 560SEL, 1984 300DT

http://http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/kingarrests.html

Read it and weep. Guy was a thug.

__________________