Rodney King- 15 Years later

Rodney King was beaten by L.A. county police officers and the incident was videotaped by a man named George Holliday, who lived nearby, the tape sent shockwaves around the world and enrage the already frustrated Los Angeles African American community, which felt that racial profiling and abuse by the police had long gone unchecked. The officers would later stand trial for the malicious beating of Mr. King.

Once the four officers accused in the beating were acquitted a year later by a predominantly white jury in the majority white suburb of Simi Valley, all hell broke loose on April 29, 1992, and before the smoke cleared a few days later,53 people were dead and $1 billion in damage reported.

He won $3.8 million in damages from the City of Los Angeles for the beating incident, but much of it went into starting a rap record label, Straight Alta-Pazz Records, which soon folded. Over the next several years, he was arrested for various charges, including convictions for drunk driving and domestic abuse. He moved from Los Angeles to suburban Rialto to live quietly with his family. He doesn't like to speak about the most Memorable American incident that much.

"He was really desperately trying to rise above it and put the incident behind him," says his most recent attorney, Renee Campbell. "Rodney has this wonderful personality, he's always looking for the good part of life. He's simply a very nice man caught in a very unfortunate situation."

In his famous phrase... Can't we all just get along!