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Salem Press

The 1990s in America

Rodney King

by David M. Jones

Identification Victim of a highly publicized beating by members of the Los Angeles Police Department

Events following King’s beating led to one of the worst riots in modern American history. It also raised troubling questions about the relations between ethnic minorities and large city police departments.

Rodney Glen King was born in Sacramento, California. He struggled in school, was athletic, and enjoyed fishing. At age nine, he was helping his father clean commercial buildings at night and until the early hours of the morning. This lack of sleep did not help his school work. King started drinking at an early age, with most of his adult difficulties stemming from his alcoholism. He eventually dropped out of high school, got married, and held various construction jobs. Before his famous arrest on 1991, he had been convicted of beating his wife (1987) and of assault and robbery at a convenience store (1989), for which he was imprisoned for two years and was out on parole by the end of 1990.

Rodney King pleads for peace in South Central Los Angeles on the third day of the rioting, May 1, 1992. His televised appearance became famous for his appeal, “Can we all get along?”

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Early in the morning of March 3, 1991, after a high speed chase of nearly eight miles involving officers from a number of jurisdictions, Rodney King was finally stopped. King exited the car, but did not lie face down as ordered by members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Instead, he crouched in what some of the officers thought was a menacing position. Though he was then “tasered” twice, King (a large, well-built man) still did not comply with orders and was able to throw off a number of officers who had tried to subdue him. Some of them then proceeded to beat him with nightsticks, hitting him more than fifty times. King was subsequently hospitalized, having suffered a number of broken bones and serious bruises. Much of this episode was videotaped by a civilian who had been awakened by the noise. This citizen eventually gave the tape to a local television station, which edited it slightly before putting in on the air. Soon, it was picked up by the Cable News Network (CNN) and shown nationally many times. The reaction to the televised tape was very strong. It was followed by a criminal investigation of the officers’ behavior as well as a “blue ribbon” commission headed by Warren Christopher. Its report was highly critical of the LAPD. Four of the officers were indicted for their actions.

Although the trial of the officers would normally have taken place in Los Angeles, their attorneys asked for, and received, a change of venue. Consequently, the trial was held in the largely white suburb of Simi Valley. There were no blacks on the jury, which acquitted all of the officers of all charges. After the verdict was announced, riots broke out in South Central Los Angeles. The officers were subsequently indicted under federal law. That trial, which did take place in the city and which did contain a multiethnic jury, led to the conviction of two of them.

Impact

The riots that followed the acquittal in the state case lasted about four days and were the worst in modern American history. They resulted in the deaths of more than fifty individuals, more than two thousand injuries that needed hospital attention, and the destruction of nearly one thousand structures. Property losses added up to more than $900 million. One of King’s best moments came during the riots, when in a televised interview he pleaded with the public for calm, asking “Can we all get along?” The reputation of the LAPD, which had been high in many quarters, was severely shaken. King eventually received an award of $3.8 million after he filed a civil suit against the city of Los Angeles. He used the money to start Alta-Pazz Recording, a rap record label.

Further Reading

1 

Cannon, Lou. Official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD. New York: Random House, 1997.

2 

Skolnick, Jerome, and James J. Fyfe. Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use of Force. New York: Free Press, 1993.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Jones, David M. "Rodney King." The 1990s in America, edited by Milton Berman, Salem Press, 2009. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1990_1306.
APA 7th
Jones, D. M. (2009). Rodney King. In M. Berman (Ed.), The 1990s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Jones, David M. "Rodney King." Edited by Milton Berman. The 1990s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2009. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.