Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965 – June 17, 2012) was an American construction worker turned writer and activist after surviving an act of police brutality by the Los Angeles Police Department. On March 3, 1991, King was violently beaten by LAPD officers during his arrest for fleeing and resisting arrest on California State Route 210. A civilian, George Holliday, filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage to local news station KTLA. The footage clearly showed King being beaten repeatedly, and the incident was covered by news media around the world.
The four officers were tried on charges of use of police brutality; three were acquitted, and the jury failed to reach a verdict on one charge for the fourth. Within hours of the acquittals, the 1992 Los Angeles riots started, sparked by outrage among African Americans over the trial's verdict and related, longstanding social issues. The rioting lasted six days and killed 63 people with 2,383 more injured; it ended only after the California Army National Guard, the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps provided reinforcements to re-establish control.