"Can't we all just get along"

Maybe he should have said this to his wife and the Korean store clerk the robbed.

In July 1987, according to a complaint filed by his wife, King beat her while she was sleeping, then dragged her outside the house and beat her again. King was charged with battery and pleaded "no contest." He was placed on probation and ordered to obtain counseling. He never got the counseling.

In November 1989, King, brandishing a tire iron, ordered a convenience store clerk to empty the cash register. The clerk grabbed the tire iron, causing King to fall backwards and knock over a pie rack. King swung the rack at the clerk and fled the store with $200.

King was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree robbery, and intent to commit great bodily injury.

In a plea agreement, King pleaded guilty to the robbery charge and the other charges were dropped.

He was sentenced to two years in prison, but was paroled in December 1990 after only serving a year of the two-year sentence.

At the time of the his LA arrest, Rodney King was twice divorced and had three children. His ex-wives were Crystal Waters and Danetta.   His consistent lifestyle of drug and alcohol abuse, along with numerous addictions left him estranged from his children.

On the night of March 2, 1991, King and two passengers, Bryant Allen and Freddie Helms, were driving west Interstate 210 in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. Prior to driving on the Foothill Freeway, the three men had spent the night watching a basketball game and drinking at a friend's house in Los Angeles.

After being tested five hours after the incident, King's blood-alcohol level was found to be just under the legal limit. This meant that his blood alcohol level was approximately 0.19 almost two and a half times the legal limit in California—when he was driving.

At 12:30 am, Officers Tim and Melanie Singer, a husband-and-wife duo of the California Highway Patrol, spotted King's car speeding. The officers then pursued King at high speeds.

According to King's own statements, he refused to pull the car over because he thought a driving under the influence test would violate his parole for a previous robbery conviction.

King exited the freeway, and the chase continued through residential streets at speeds allegedly ranging from 55 to 80 mph.[11][12] By this point, several police cars and a helicopter had joined in the pursuit. After approximately eight miles, officers cornered King's car. The first five LAPD officers to arrive at the scene were Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Rolando Solano. Officer Tim Singer ordered King and his two passengers to exit the vehicle and lie face down on the ground.

The two passengers complied and were taken into custody without incident. King initially remained in the car. When he finally did emerge, he acted bizarrely giggling, patting the ground, and waving to the police helicopter overhead.

King then grabbed his buttocks. Officer Melanie Singer momentarily thought he was reaching for a gun. She drew her gun and pointed it at King, ordering him to lie on the ground. King complied. Singer approached King with her gun drawn, preparing to make the arrest.

At this point, Sergeant Stacey Koon intervened and ordered Officer Melanie Singer to holster her weapon. LAPD officers are taught not to approach a suspect with a drawn gun, as there is a risk of the suspect gaining control of it if they get too close. Koon then ordered the four other LAPD officers at the scene—Briseno, Powell, Solano and Wind—to subdue and handcuff King in a manner called a "swarm", a technique that involves multiple officers grabbing a suspect with empty hands.

As the officers attempted to do so, King physically resisted. King rose up, tossing Officers Powell and Briseno off his back. King then struck Officer Briseno in the chest. Seeing this, Koon ordered all of the officers to fall back. The officers later testified that they believed King was under the influence of the dissociative drug phencyclidine (PCP). King's toxicology results tested negative for PCP. Sergeant Koon then ordered the officers to "stand clear."

King was standing and was not responding to Koon's commands. Koon then fired a Taser into King's back. King groaned; momentarily fell to his knees, then stood back and yelled for almost five seconds.

Then he rises and moves toward Powell. Solano termed it a "lunge," and said it was in the direction of Koon. At this time, taser wires can be seen coming from King's body. As King moves forward, Officer Powell strikes King with his baton. The blow hits King's head, knocking him to the ground immediately. Powell hits King several additional times with his baton. The videotape shows Briseno moving in to try and stop Powell from swinging, and Powell then backing up. Koon reportedly yelled "that's enough." King then rises to his knees; Powell and Wind continue to hit King with their batons while he is on the ground.

Koon acknowledged that he ordered the baton blows, directing Powell and Wind to hit King with "power strokes." According to Koon, Powell and Wind used "bursts of power strokes, then backed off." The videotape shows King apparently continuing to try to get up. Koon orders the officers to "hit his joints, hit the wrists, hit his elbows, hit his knees, hit his ankles."

Finally, after 56 baton blows and six kicks, five or six officers swarm in and place King in both handcuffs and cordcuffs, restraining his arms and legs. King is dragged on his stomach to the side of the road to await arrival of a rescue ambulance.