Authorities are now investigating the cause of Rodney King's death over weekend. Officials ordered toxicology tests, though results won't be known for a few weeks. His body was found in a swimming pool on Sunday.
King became the iconic face of the 1992 L.A. riots. He was stopped for speeding and beaten by four Los Angeles Police Department officers. A bystander videotaped the brutal incident, in which police hit him more than 50 times, kicked him on the ground and zapped him with stun guns — sparking widespread civil unrest. After all was said and done, more than 50 people died, nearly 3,000 were injured and thousands of businesses were trashed.
Twenty years after his almost-deadly beating, Rodney King reflected on the infamous riots and gave his perspective on the killing of Trayvon Martin during an appearance on The Last Word. He was a guest on our show just a short time ago on April 25. In a Very Last Word web exclusive, he thanked supporters for keeping him alive.
"I would just like to say thank you. Although I may not know who you are, or where you are, today," King told The Last Word. "And even if you've passed away, I really appreciate the support over the years that I have received. I’ll always remember that, those prayers and people who kept me alive over the years."
King was 47.
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Rodney King was a drunk who was refusing to stop his vehicle that he was driving at high speeds erratically trying to evade police, who chased him in numbers through a number of different precincts, and when they did stop him he got out of his car and appeared defiantly combative. He was subdued. And for that he was chosen by the black community and leftist media as a hero, and that black Los Angeles community self destructed in rioting, acts of arson and looting, and aimless violence, just as King eventually did himself with his years of alcohol and drug abuse and wife beating and shop lifting and various other minor criminal actions, including driving under the influence on several other occasions. Rodney King will not be missed by the world!