Few images in Los Angeles history have had the impact--or ignited more raw emotion--than a grainy home video capturing Los Angeles police officers mercilessly beating a black motorist named Rodney G. King on March 3, 1991.
The oft-replayed tape, shot by George Holliday as he stood shivering on his Lake View Terrace apartment balcony, set in motion a series of events that culminated in not-guilty verdicts in a state trial against four white LAPD officers and fiery riots that shook the city for four days in April 1992.
It also thrust the soft-spoken plumber from relative obscurity into the Klieg lights of history.
Holliday became a popular interview subject as his tape, first broadcast on KTLA (Channel 5), was repeatedly played on scores of local, national and world news telecasts.
His tape, meanwhile, became a key piece of evidence in two trials against the officers, ultimately leading to the convictions of Sgt. Stacey Koon and Officer Lawrence Powell for federal civil rights violations.
