Police said they have started an investigation into the death of Rodney King. King apparently died Sunday morning by drowning in his pool. King became a hero in 1991 after he was brutally beaten by four Los Angeles Police Department officers. King was outside his home for the majority of Saturday night said Cynthia Kelly, his fiancée, who reported to police that she found his body in the bottom of the pool.
Police said that Kelly was inside the home and had been sleeping and King had been talking to her from the real patio near the pool. She heard him talking with her and got up to go out to speak with him and that is when she spotted him at the bottom of the pool.
King was a reluctant hero over twenty years ago when he suffered the beating that was captured on video by a bystander. The videotape was then given to a TV station in Los Angeles and caused shock waves across the globe. Race relations and police brutality were put on center stage. Civil rights advocates said the beating helped America focus on the problem of police misconduct and profiling.
King’s attackers were acquitted which caused rioting in 1992 throughout Los Angeles. Daryl Gates the then Chief of the LAPD was forced to resign and the department went through a complete overhaul.
Police said they would conduct an investigation to make sure that King’s death was due to an accidental drowning and an autopsy will determine if drugs or alcohol were involved.
