SuzanneT
11-29-2007, 04:53 PM
RIALTO, California (CNN) -- Rodney King, whose 1991 police beating sparked widespread rioting in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, was recovering Thursday after being slightly wounded by gunfire.
Rialto, California, Police Department Sgt. Don Lewis said King was grazed on his face, arms, back and torso. The wounds were superficial. A shotgun was believed to have been the weapon used.
Lewis said that after King was shot Wednesday night, he rode his bicycle from San Bernardino to his home in Rialto, before calling police about 11:40 p.m.
Information on possible suspects or the hospital where King was treated were not immediately available.
Amateur video captured King's beating after Los Angeles police officers stopped him for speeding March 3, 1991. Police beat King repeatedly, delivering 56 baton blows and six kicks -- causing skull fractures, and brain and kidney damage.
Four officers were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force but were acquitted of state charges on April 29, 1992.
The three days of rioting that followed left 55 people dead and 2,000 injured. There were 12,000 arrests and about $1 billion in property damage in Los Angeles.
Two of the officers, Sgt. Stacey Koon and officer Laurence Powell, were later convicted of federal civil rights violations.
Since then, King has had a handful of run-ins with the law, including a guilty plea in 2004 to driving under the influence of a controlled substance and reckless driving
Rialto, California, Police Department Sgt. Don Lewis said King was grazed on his face, arms, back and torso. The wounds were superficial. A shotgun was believed to have been the weapon used.
Lewis said that after King was shot Wednesday night, he rode his bicycle from San Bernardino to his home in Rialto, before calling police about 11:40 p.m.
Information on possible suspects or the hospital where King was treated were not immediately available.
Amateur video captured King's beating after Los Angeles police officers stopped him for speeding March 3, 1991. Police beat King repeatedly, delivering 56 baton blows and six kicks -- causing skull fractures, and brain and kidney damage.
Four officers were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force but were acquitted of state charges on April 29, 1992.
The three days of rioting that followed left 55 people dead and 2,000 injured. There were 12,000 arrests and about $1 billion in property damage in Los Angeles.
Two of the officers, Sgt. Stacey Koon and officer Laurence Powell, were later convicted of federal civil rights violations.
Since then, King has had a handful of run-ins with the law, including a guilty plea in 2004 to driving under the influence of a controlled substance and reckless driving