Rodney King was found at the bottom of his swimming pool in Rialto, California on Sunday, June 17. Authorities say King appears to be the victim of an accidental drowning, and found no evidence of foul play. An autopsy will be performed on Monday (June 18) to determine whether drugs and/or alcohol were contributing factors.
King's beating and the subsequent acquittal of his attackers-- Theodore Briseno, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind and Sgt. Stacey Koon—set off the L.A. riots in 1992. During the ensuing violence, King used his celebrity to plead for peace.
"People look at me like I should have been like Malcolm X or Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks," he told The Los Angeles Times in April. "I should have seen life like that and stay out of trouble, and don't do this and don't do that. But it's hard to live up to some people's expectations."
Last year, which marked the 20th anniversary of his beating, King reflected on the attack and said there was forgiveness in his heart:
"Yes, I've forgiven them, because I've been forgiven many times," he told CNN. "I have to be able to forgive -- for the future, for the younger generation coming behind me, so . . . they can understand it and if a situation like that happened again, they could deal with it a lot easier."
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