Rodney King Found Dead In His Swimming Pool

The man whose videotaped beating by police officers led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots has been found dead in his swimming pool.

Rialto Police captain Randy Deanda said King was found "unresponsive" at the bottom of his pool on Sunday morning by his fiancée Cynthia Kelley.

Mr King suffered brain damage as a result of the police attack in 1991, and Ms Kelley was one of the jurors in the following civil rights case that finally gave Mr King £2.5m in damages.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding King's death, and an investigation will now be opened.

On March 3, 1991 Rodney King had been out driving with two friends.

The 25-year-old was spotted speeding and attempted to avoid the police, he was on parole from a robbery conviction and had been drinking, which he later said led him to try to evade the police.

He was finally stopped by four Los Angeles police officers who beat him more than 50 times with their batons, kicked him and shot him with Taser stun guns.

The attack left him with 11 skull fractures, a broken eye socket and facial nerve damage.

The officers were caught on videotape and the footage was sent and broadcast on a TV station.

Based on the footage a trial was brought against the officers but a year later on April 29, 1992, a jury with no black members acquitted three of the officers on state charges in the beating; a mistrial was declared for a fourth.

News of the verdicts caused violence to erupt on the streets which quickly spread across Los Angeles.

The rioting lasted for three days, killing 55 people, injuring more than 2,000 and destroying large areas of Los Angeles, causing \$1 billion in damage.

Speaking ahead of this year's 20th anniversary of the riots, King said racism still has to be challenged.

"There's always gonna be some type of racism. But it's up to us as individuals in this country to look back and see all the accomplishments that we have gotten to this far."

Asked about his feelings toward the police officers who beat him, he said: "I have forgiven, because America has forgiven me for so many things and given me so many chances.

"You get to have a second chance, and I've been given a second chance," said King, who has had a number of brushes with the law since 1992.

"I have much respect for (the police), much respect... some of them went out of their way over the years to try to make it up to me. Not all of them is bad."