Rodney King Dead

(FT) Rodney King, the man who was at the center of the infamous Los Angeles riots — was found dead this morning. He was 47.

TMZ.com sources indicate that King’s fiancée found him dead at the bottom of a pool.

King became famous in 1991 when he was the victim of police brutality.

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(calgaryherald) It has been 20 years this month since rioting brought Los Angeles to its knees. A jury had acquitted four police officers in the beating of King, unleashing an onslaught of pent-up anger. There were 54 riot-related deaths and nearly $1 billion in property damage as the seams of the city blew apart.

[...] jobless and virtually broke. Gone is the settlement money he got after suing the city for violating his civil rights. All $3.8 million of it. Huge chunks went to the lawyers, he says, some to family members, some he simply wasted.

The settlement did provide a down payment on the inconspicuous rambler that is his home in Rialto. He says he cobbles together mortgage payments. Every so often he gets hired to pour concrete at a construction site. He has earned small paydays fighting in celebrity boxing matches. He received an advance — less than six figures, he says, but significant nonetheless — for allowing his story to be told in a book on sale this week: “The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption.”

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