» News
Rodney King Dead
Rodney King, whose beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 was caught on camera and sparked riots after the acquittal of the four officers involved, was found dead in his swimming pool Sunday, authorities and his fiancee said. He was 47.
Police in Rialto, California, received a 911 call from King’s fiancee, Cynthia Kelly, about 5:25 a.m., said Capt. Randy DeAnda. Responding officers found King at the bottom of the pool, removed him and attempted to revive him. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital, DeAnda said.
There were no preliminary signs of foul play, he said, and no obvious injuries on King’s body. Police are conducting a drowning investigation, DeAnda said, and King’s body would be autopsied.
“His fiancee heard him in the rear yard,” he said, and found King in the pool when she went outside.
Kelly was a juror in King’s lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles in 1994.
reddecaesari
June 17th, 2012
i remember those riots fondly.
businesses destroyed by thieves seen running down the streets with stolen bean bags the stores couldn’t give away the day before.
darwin at work.
tom@drum
June 17th, 2012
Commemorative riots anyone?
CrustyB
June 17th, 2012
In honor of Rodney King I’m going to get drunk, high, endanger people’s lives by speeding, violently resist arrest and hope the camera doesn’t start rolling until the cops get on top of me.
RosalindJ
June 17th, 2012
I’m sorry his death will be forever intertwined with one of the worst cases of media malpractice (Zimmerman is also in the top ten) in modern times.
Hey MBM; selective editing has consequences. Ya’ll sure are slow learners.
Slippery
June 17th, 2012
Obama said “If I had an illegal immigrant, drug and alcohol abusing uncle, he would look just like Rodney!……What’s that you say?”
serfer62
June 17th, 2012
She left him at the bottom of the pool till the cops came?
Jethro
June 17th, 2012
@slippery – you beat me to it!
Diann
June 17th, 2012
So, I guess we can all just get along now.
Chalupa
June 17th, 2012
Where he’s at now, people really don’t get along.
ChiefIlliniCake
June 17th, 2012
Engaged to the woman who awarded him the $4 million settlement…
Too bad she wasn’t found bobbing in the pool with him.
Good riddance.
hanoverfist
June 17th, 2012
RosalindJ
Not for a lack of the media trying though.
They really wanted a Summer of rage.
grease monkey
June 17th, 2012
I lived in L.A. in the early 90s .. Good riddance to bad rubbish. I am surprised it took this long for him to finish the job.
FU
Diogenes
June 17th, 2012
ADISO MOFO!
historicus
June 17th, 2012
Swimming pool is obviously racist.
So long Rodney, you asshole.
boomerang
June 17th, 2012
Read that there is a comment over at CNN that Al Sharpton has now declared pool water to be racist.
Joecondor
June 17th, 2012
You can beat Rodney King, but you can’t beat the
Grim Reaper!
Hybrid Lemon
June 17th, 2012
Bottom line is…he was one great boxing promoter.
I see he got a haircut.
Reaganite Republican
June 17th, 2012
Libs like to tell you that a lot of drugged-out people who lead troubled lives are ‘only hurting themselves’ and shouldn’t be judged harshly- but look at all the damage this one caused
I lived there then, it was SO much fun waiting up on the roof all night with guns so our building didn’t get burned down (/sark), thanks Mr King
Moxie Man
June 17th, 2012
Sheila Jackson Lee owns the rights to The Great Philosopher’s classics.
Buzz D.
June 17th, 2012
I wonder if the girlfriend is in the Will. Did the pool have some Crack in it? How warm is it where you are Rodney?
Unneutral
June 17th, 2012
I hope they whack him again with a night stick before they close the casket.
Birdie Num Num
June 17th, 2012
A non entity who became famous for being an idiot.
What a country!
xthred
June 17th, 2012
YEAH. Finally some happy news.
joe
June 17th, 2012
@serfer62: I didn’t think about that, but I like the way you think. @Hybrid Lemon: Mr. Hat should add 10 points for your IOTW cleverness. Good going, ya’ll.
PATH
June 17th, 2012
Slippery – Obama said “If I had an illegal immigrant, drug and alcohol abusing uncle, he would look just like Rodney!……What’s that you say?”
Obama DOES have an illegal immigrant, drug and alcohol abusing uncle……did you forget Uncle Omar up in Boston/Framingham? I think he just got his driver’s license back.
Tortillapete
June 17th, 2012
So proud of my hometown! We used to call it “Rathole” back in the day…
Rodney’s last words: Glug Glug Glug Glug Glug Glug Glug?
Corona
June 17th, 2012
“Can’t we all just get a life jacket”
Genl Ripper
June 17th, 2012
Rodney King was awarded $4 million in a lawsuit settlement.
I could live like a King on $4 million! Hey, wait a minute…..
Maudie N Mandeville
June 17th, 2012
‘Fiancee’: A term used by the MSM to denote a ‘bitch’ (“She be one my bitches”) in the African-American culture for two decades.
Buck Ofama
June 17th, 2012
I’m surprised that he made it to age 47.
^^^^not sarcasm^^^^
The only good thing I can say about him is that he probably would have been a better President than the jackhole we have there now.
^^^^sarcasm^^^^
scr_north
June 17th, 2012
I’m going against the grain here a bit but Rodney King really shouldn’t have all the vitriol spewed against him. He was a black man with a drug and temper problem who went up against a pile of cops and lost.
After the riots he went for the cash with a lawsuit (don’t think for a moment he was smart to think of this on his own, I wonder how much of that award the lawyers and his “advisors” got.
The real villians in this piece is the person who shot the video (who conveniently forgot about all the warnings that King got and he still kept coming, PCP will do that to you), the media that tried and convicted the cops before their trial and white-washed Kings background, the gutless LA police and Sheriffs department for not standing by their men, the various race baiters (black and white) that saw a chance for a buck and finally the black population that took the opportunity to go shopping after being told by the media that riots will be the inevitable result of a not-guilty verdict.
After he got the money King pretty well disappeared excpet for the odd time he surfaced on some drug or alcohol charge.
Liberal Larry
June 17th, 2012
I hope that there is a full investigation. I smell foul play.
Roadmaster
June 17th, 2012
Another “victim” as far as I’m concerned is Simi Valley. I lived there for years and still have friends there. They don’t deserve the smearing they got for weighing the evidence and handing down a fair verdict. The place will forever be “guilty” of being mostly white and predominantly Republican. When it comes to race, facts, truth and common decency are always buried under emotion and hysterics.
And those cops got a raw deal too. I knew a few of them also and they’re just people trying to do a thankless job. I couldn’t do it – had I been one the night of the King beating, he’d have simply been blown away in the first 10 seconds, saving billions of dollars in damage and stupid lawsuits….
Mary Jane Anklestraps
June 17th, 2012
Liberal Larry-
Yeah, they’re gonna arrest the drugs that assaulted him.
Troy
June 17th, 2012
Great Father’s day news!
I outlived this cocksucker.
He was on Piers Mporgan recently and spoke of how fortunate he was that when the police “attacked” him, it was on video tape.
Rest in hell piece of shit!
moarkdave
June 17th, 2012
What was Rodney King doing at the bottom of the pool?
His fiancee told him there was a crack in bottom of the pool. He misunderstood and was looking for the crack cocaine.
Too soon????
Maudie N Mandeville
June 17th, 2012
Quick, someone tell ‘em the white peoples didn’t do nothin’.
I luv Bacon
June 17th, 2012
Kudos, Troy.
You Beat me to it.
Happy Fathers day.
This truly was a wonderful surprise.
h/t Rodney.
Moe Tom
June 17th, 2012
Fuck Rodney King. I have the entire video. The MSM cut the shit out of it They wanted a race riot. They will want a race riot on the Zimmerman case. You watch
denny g
June 17th, 2012
A non entity who became famous for being an idiot.
What a country!
Yakov… branson’s got internet?
House of Kell
June 18th, 2012
NEXT!!!
Sam
June 18th, 2012
“The real villians in this piece is the person who shot the video”
I said the same thing when the cops tasered that 8 month pregnant woman for parking in a handicapped space. Do you expect a bunch of grown men to be able to handcuff just anyone?
Boobie the Rocket Dog
June 18th, 2012
I’ll bet he died intestate and the state gets a chunk of its money back.
Were there any little Rods?
GM Car Of The Future
June 18th, 2012
Foul play? Hell, I smell chlorine.
Nunya
June 18th, 2012
Where’s FDR In Hell to give us a report of the newest arrival?