Rodney Glen King was the famous African-American who fell victim to the police abuse at the hands of the LAPD officers. He was born and brought up in California and got into trouble with the law for the first time when he was 24 years old, after he attacked a store owner in California and stole cash from him. In 1991, he and two of his passengers were chased by California Highway Patrol Officers. King did not comply with the order of officers and instead chose to drive on, which led to a massive car chase, in which LAPD Officers joined in with the police helicopters. When he was finally captured, he was beaten up with the police baton by the officers and suffered serious fractures and injuries. While this was going on, George Holliday, a witness, recorded everything on a tape and sent that tape to a television channel which exposed the abuse of King by LAPD officers. Two out of five officers were convicted and King sued the City of Los Angeles and won 3.8 million US dollars. The tape was publicized and resulted in the riots all over Los Angeles. King became a public figure and appeared on television several times after the incident. He suffered from alcoholism and drug abuse for the rest of his life and died as a result of it in 2012.