Rodney Glen King was a motorist who, while videotaped by a by-stander
George Holliday, was beaten by Los Angeles police officers during an arrest on March 3, 1991. King was kicked and hit 56 times with police batons and electrically shocked using Taser guns. In addition to the three officers personally involved, 24 other law enforcement officers watched the beating. April 29, 1992, the officers were acquitted by a jury in a verdict that shocked much of the country. The verdict triggered massive rioting in Los Angeles which left hundreds of buildings severely damaged or destroyed and dozens dead. Then on August 4, a federal judge sentenced LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence
Powell to 30 months in prison for violating King's civil rights. The other officers were not convicted and there was no rioting.
