S. Samuel
The passing of early 1990's cultural icon Rodney King has sent shock waves across the nation and spawned celebrity reactions from Crooked I, Masta Ace, Waka Flocka Flame, Natalie Nunn and more.
Details on King’s shocking passing surfaced early Sunday (June 17) morning.
Rodney King, who came to symbolize racial tensions in the United States after his 1991 beating at the hands of police led to deadly riots in Los Angeles a year later, was found dead in a swimming pool on Sunday in Rialto, California, police said. He was 47. “Preliminary indications are that this is a drowning with no signs of foul play,” Rialto police said in a statement. King was discovered by his fiancée, said Rialto police Captain Randy De Anda. The San Bernadino County Coroner’s office will conduct an autopsy, authorities said. King’s death was reported to police Sunday morning in Rialto, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Police pulled his body from the swimming pool but were unable to resuscitate him, De Anda said. (Reuters)
An investigation centering on King having potentially drowned has started up.
Capt. Randy DeAnda told CNN that the Rialto Police Department received a 911 call from King’s fiance early Sunday morning. Police responded and found King unconscious at the bottom of the pool. He was transported to the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. DeAnda said there were no signs of foul play and that police were conducting a drowning investigation. “Rodney King was a symbol of civil rights and he represented the anti-police brutality and anti-racial profiling movement of our time,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement. “It was his beating that made America focus on the presence of profiling and police misconduct.” (North Country Public Radio)
Last year, King spoke on being the victim to a racially-charged police attack in 1991.
An amateur cameraman caught the scene as four white police officers struck King more than 50 times with their wooden batons and used a stun gun on him. King said as the officers beat him, they yelled, “We are going to kill you, n***er,” although the officers denied using racial slurs. The video shows King cowering on the ground and attempting to crawl away as he is surrounded by a crowd of police officers. Four of them used their nightsticks to strike him. King was beaten nearly to death. Three surgeons operated on him for five hours. The video of the beating appeared on national television two days later, focusing attention on the issue of racially-motivated police brutality. (CNN)
Peep a slew of celebrity reactions on King’s passing below:
check out CNN’s coverage of Rodney King’s life below:
