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Joe Klamar / AFP - Getty Images file
Rodney King speaking with fans before presenting his autobiographical book 'The Riot Within...My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption' in Los Angeles.
Rodney King's death was ruled accidental in an autopsy report released Thursday by the San Bernardino County Coroner's Office, which also noted he had marijuana, cocaine and alcohol in his system.
The report summarized the events leading to his June 17 death at age 47 in his backyard pool in Rialto, Calif.
King "was in a state of drug and alcohol induced delirium," according to the coroner's report.
He "either fell or jumped into the swimming pool," the report said. "The effects of the drugs and alcohol, combined with the subject's heart condition, thus incapacitated, was unable to save himself and drowned."
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King's fiancée, Cynthia Kelley, found him in the deep end of the pool at 5:25 a.m. and called 911. She made several attempts to pull him out of the pool but was unable to save him. He was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center where he died.
Rialto police said the preliminary investigation suggested the drowning was accidental and that there were no signs of trauma or foul play.
Kelley told police that King he had been out all weekend with a male friend, but police said at the time they did not know if King and his friend had been partying all night.
During a press conference announcing the death, police technicians could be seen bringing out a marijuana plant from inside King's home.
King was an admitted drug addict and alcoholic and told NBCLosAngeles.com in April he had been managing his addictions.
King was remembered during services led by the Rev. Al Sharpton as a "symbol of forgiveness" who bore the scars of his infamous videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers with dignity.
Sharpton said that King never showed bitterness to the officers who beat him.
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King became famous after his videotaped Lake View Terrace beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 was broadcast worldwide, as were photos of his bloodied and bruised face.
Those images became a national symbol of police brutality.
When four officers charged with felony assault on King were acquitted by a jury with no black members, the verdict sparked a riot that lasted for six days and brought U.S. military presence to patrol LA streets.
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During the unrest, which left more than 50 people dead and caused more than $1 billion in property damage, King famously pleaded for peace by asking, "Can we all get along?"
King's words were embroidered on the lid of his casket, next to a portrait of him.
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Leave a Comment:
Even the 1% ers are not free of demons. This multimillionaire had to do 3 types of drugs to feel right. Wonder where this 1% er fell on the tax spectrum. His $3.5 Mil settlement was tax free...have to wonder how much this guy was paying in taxes...while growing his own pot plant...etc.
This was a nonthinking person who only took and wasted. The media and the left tried to make him a hero...but, his drugs and alcohol were the only things important to him....
Good riddance to bad rubbish
When White celebrities die from drug use their heros.. When black celebrities die of the same thing their rubbish????????
uhu uhu uhu thats right...thats right thats right alright alright alright alright.
...@fpp: Rodney King was not a "celebrity". He was just a lying crackhead POS who "got over on da man".
Anybody here think John Belushi and Chris Farley were heroes?
Brilliant comedians, definitely. Tortured souls, maybe. Heroes, no.
They were fools for squandering their lives when they had so much and could have accomplished so much more.
Just like Rodney King.
At ChrisMcK,
agree with you one hundred percent.
At fppmedia
you are so wrapped up in your BS you can't see your face in the mirror.
Just by your statement tells me you are black, grow up earn up as you like to say man up or do you need to do another million Man March to become men.
He was a drug addict? No way, Rodney King???? C'mon!! He must have accidentally ingested all those drugs. He was a fine upstanding citizen.
I suppose everyone posting here has lived a model life so they feel better by highlighting everything that is wrong with other people.
He's dead now, you can't hurt him anymore and he can't hurt himself anymore.
And nobody is going to miss him either. Except for Al Sharpton of course.
And everyone will release white doves at your funeral.
.rodney sucks
No but his stuid bull@!$%# hurt alot of people the crap I did didnot, So Long Rodney, Good F#$%^&*() Bye
He had a long history of violence to others. not just a few mistakes. Read his arrest record sometime. Ask his wives and kids about what a great guy he was in between beatings
So much for all the insistence that he'd been murdered by 'them.'
Them...................yeah the guys at the liquor store.
OH yeah.......Huhuuuuu............delerium .. there's a SHOCKER, the guy was a drunken drug addict, and a LOOSER.
So long Rodney...............The hate and discontent this drunken drug addict created will long be remembered.
OH yes ........... HE DID Create it.
Wait, is this the story about Rodney or Jesse Jackson jr?Oh well another day.
Isn't he the poster child for most of the bling wearing,rapper loving,gold teeth displaying black people that walk around with tons of cash and care more about their decked out SUV's than their own kids by selling all those drugs? What role models.good grief!
should have invested some of his money in swimming lessons
he died? lets riot and burn our own sh** . that'll show em!!
Dumb comment. Riot was dumb though.
2 all of u.r.just jealous of him.u.never had it never will.
Typical response from another low life. Why don't you go for a swim a$$hole?
Addiction is an awful & tragic disease to have to live with, because all you want to do is die. Doesn't matter if your Rodney King, Johnny Cash, (former First Lady) Betty Ford, Joe Walsh, a homeless person, or (Mary) Mrs. Robert Kennedy. Addiction doesn't care about race, wealth status, religion, or anything else. Addiction simply wants to render a person hopeless. And you should pray that you never have to find this out on your own.
BS, BS, BS,
get out, make excuses, no one broke you arm to take drugs of any kind that was your choice now you want everyone to have pity on you not happening you don't take it you can't get hooked.
Quote all the famous people and institutions you like you made the choice to take the crap /drugs.
Don't blame it on everyone else for your stupidity and that's what is stupidity.
are the drugs and alcohol a good excuse for repeatedly being arrested for beating his wives and kids?
ND Cowdog: This is likely the best post.
Lebanon,Pa: You live in an idealistic world. Time to bring yourself to reality. And no I'm not a druggy or a recovering addict and don't know anyone that is. It just takes some common sense to know that people will end up using whether it beginning in high school, college, or later. They are still people who have family and friends who care. How about if your relative made a bad decision and was an addict. You would want them to get help even if you couldn't give them help yourself. Time to accept reality.
If addiction is a disease, it's the only "disease" that comes in a vial. No one has to use drugs.
Forget about Rodney King. Who wants so called big tough cops on the force beating the crap out of anyone. White or black. These cops gave all cops a bad name. How tough you have to be to join a bunch of your fellow lowlifes to beat up someone. And they needed sticks to beat him too. How tough are they? Bunch of lowlife cowards is all they are.
Those cops were found NOT GUILTY.
Bud.....They were on video beating the crap out of another human being. Not one of them. But a bunch of COWARDS using nightsticks. How many of these big brave cops with night sticks did it take to subdue one person. Then they get a stacked jury and of coarse are found innocent.
And illiterate field hand is all you are, guy. Take a night course in remedial English (they're free) and learn how to use a question mark (?).
The verdict in Simi Valley was the correct one. Two of the officers were later railroaded in Federal District Court to forestall another urban rampage. Every blow was in response to Rodney King defying police orders by attempting to rise when told to stay down. That is normal, correct police procedure. When he lay still he was not struck.
The police are not required to get in the ring one to one with criminal suspects and make it a "fair fight".
Accidental? Really? The idiot died due to his own problems.
It's hard to call it an "accident" when it was completely forseeable and the logical outcome of a lifetime of drug abuse. Maybe it was unintentional; not sure it was accidental.
White men can't jump and black men can't swim.
I heard that but didnt we just have a black swimmer win gold at the Olympics.
And a white man won gold in the high jump.
Maybe both are a sign that the Mayans may be right....
Reminds me of the old line about "a turd in a swimming pool"
He probably had really low self esteem - always hearing people say, "you don't deserve anything...." did drugs to escape his demons -
Or maybe he was just a bad guy who couldn't conquer his demons.
Or maybe, like Elvis and Whitney, he was surrounded by a group of yes men and enablers, too busy enjoying the gravy train, telling him how great he was, and who never forced him to confront his demons.
We may never know. Certainly, it was within his power to do it. He had money, he had resources, he certainly had enough "people" who could have helped him.
low self esteem caused him to commit armed robbery and repeatedly beat his wives and kids too?
He only received a $3.8 million settlement. After his death, his family didn't have enough money to bury him, so I'm assuming he pissed it away rather quickly. And I wouldn't compare Mr. King to Whitney and Elvis -- at least they contributed something tangible to society. King was merely the victim of a senseless beating which may never have happened if he hadn't chosen to break the law.
Cynthia Kelley made several attempts to save King? In the reports I've read, her attempts to save him consisted of throwing a shovel to try and wake him. That doesn't exactly bring to mind Pamela Anderson plunging in the water a la Baywatch.
News Update! This just in ... a video of 4 policeman beating a man after a traffic stop in the white suburbs of LA have just been released. The man being beaten, a 6'5 drug abusing, alchoholic who has prior arrest convictions was stopped after leading police on a 95 mph chase through LA! The four black officers who finally stopped him, had to drag the uncooperative driver, a white thug, from his car and began beating him when he resisted arrest. Law abiding business owners in the area are advised to keep their doors open and lights on and all on-duty LA police have been advised to remain at their favorite doughnut shops, as no riots are expected!
who didnt see this coming?? drugs in his system?? surprise!!
With over 3,000 stores looted during the LA riots, I wonder how much of that stuff stolen for the not guilty verdict was given to Rodney? I bet nobody even dropped him off a bag of ice.
Wow!! No surprise in reading how cruel people can be. Whether he was an alcoholic and/or on drugs, he was still a human being and have loved ones who care and love him. Maybe he didn't make the best decisions in life, but who makes all the best decisions. Many here are probably living off or sponging off their family and family name, having done nothing to earn what you have. I guess everyone here is sin free and perfect? One shouldn't be so quick to spew negative words about people because just when you think you are in the clear your words come back and bite you in the_____. Those that have children remember that your children can too become alcohol addicts as well as drug addicts even with the best parenting......and those that don't have children(yet) it could happen to yours as well.
he did more than make a few wrong decisions. He had a long long history of armed robbery, assault, beating his three wives and his kids.
He was a slimeball anyway...good riddance.
Its called "addiction" you judgmental morons!! "He never learned from his beatdown?" What the hell is that supposed to mean? Because he was a drug addict he deserved what the cops did to him? Because he struggled with drugs and alcohol he deserved to die? Listen up all you holier than thou #@$clowns! Being in bondage to a substance doesn't make you less of a person than someone else.
And don't send me some bull%^$& flaming response that you've beaten your addiction because your so strong or set your mind to it or sheer willpower. That's a crock. You would be a millionaire and we would have all bought your book already. You bunch of self righteous jack(*&^s!!! Thugs in third world countries do what those guys did RK, if you think he deserved it because of drugs then you are human garbage!!
Blah, Blah, Blah..... Scum bag got what he deserved !!!!!! KARMA BE ACHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hear what you're saying and will agree to a certain point. I've dealt with someone who developed an addiction to PAIN medication. This is not someone who took the medication to get high, but someone who took the medication to get rid of real pain. And it became a serious addiction like any other. When this type of addiction occurs, I am more sympathetic. This person WANTED to break away and seek help, and did! But when someone is smoking marijuana, snorting coke or shooting heroin simply to get high with no other justifiable reason, and THEN they develop the addiction, and then continue that behavior...I'm sorry, I am NOT sympathetic.
I don't care about his drug addiction. that poor baby. I do care about his LONG history of violence, armed robbery and assault. multiple arrests for beating all 3 of his wives and his children. Are drugs an excuse for all that?