Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights
Twenty years ago, Rodney King took a savage beating by Los Angeles police for a routine traffic stop that forever changed the conversation of race here in America.
The beating was caught on tape and was a clear depiction of the police brutality far too many had known but most of America had denied or tolerated.
Ironically, King was again stopped by Arcadia, Calif., police officers Thursday for allegedly running a red light.
King's most-recent run-in with the law comes one day shy of the anniversary of his infamous beating on March 3, 1991. King was accompanied by his fiancée Cynthia Kelly.
King was brutally beaten by four white police officers following a high-speed chase in to the Los Angeles suburb of Lakeview Terrace on March 3, 1991. A resident, George Holliday, who heard lots of sirens and plenty of commotion decided to videotape the beating from his balcony.
Holliday's nine-minute footage aired on local television and eventually went global.
After the four officers were acquitted a year later, the decision sparked civil unrest among some black communities: 55 people died, 200 were injured and countless lootings led to $1 billion worth of property damage.
King, who was left with brain and kidney damage from the beating, was eventually awarded $3.8 million in a lawsuit he settled with the city. Throughout the years, King has unfortunately struggled with drinking, drugs and a few DUI and reckless driving arrests.
This time King was stopped, though, he received a citation by police not for running the light but for driving with an expired license.
King wound up calling up a friend to take him and his fiancée home.
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