35 years ago: Rodney King was brutally beaten by police

Rodney King, a Black man who was beaten by four white police officers in Los Angeles on March 3, 1991.

At 12:45 AM on March 3, 1991, a bystander captured a video of motorist Rodney King being beaten by a swarm of police officers in Los Angeles. King, a Black man, had pulled over after a police chase through the city.

King, who had been tasered twice already before the video even began, was filmed beset by four white officers using batons and their feet to beat the unarmed King mercilessly, leaving him with skull and facial fractures, a broken leg, and lasting brain injuries.

In an era long before high-definition video cameras were embedded in nearly every cellphone, this footage was extraordinary because of its uniqueness. It starkly documented the kind of police brutality that civil rights advocates and community members had alleged for decades.

What has not faded with time is the sense of injustice that followed. In April 1992, a jury acquitted all four officers on charges related to excessive force, prompting nearly a week of civil unrest and riots across Los Angeles.

King died in 2012 at the age of 47.