RIALTO, Calif. (AP) – Investigators conducted an autopsy Monday on Rodney King’s body, but it is expected to take several weeks to determine what killed him, officials said.
Coroner’s officials will await results from toxicology tests that could take up to six weeks to gather before determining how King died. He was pulled from the deep end of his pool early Sunday morning by police who were called to his home by his fiancee.
King, 47, became famous after he was severely beaten by Los Angeles police in 1991. It was captured on videotape and broadcast worldwide, as were photos of King’s bloodied and bruised face. The more than 50 baton blows and kicks inflicted by officers left King with 11 skull fractures, a broken eye socket and facial nerve damage.
The trial of four officers charged with felony assault in connection with the case ended after a jury with no black members acquitted three of the officers on state charges in the beating; a mistrial was declared for a fourth.
The verdict sparked one of the most costly and deadly race riots in the nation’s history.
Rialto police were investigating King’s death as an apparent drowning and said they have found no signs of foul play. King’s fiancee spoke with police for several hours Sunday and is considered a witness in the case, Rialto Police Officer David Shepherd said Monday.
A police officer remained stationed outside of King’s one-story home throughout the day Monday, with several news crews also remaining in the neighborhood. Cars slowed to look at the house and some stopped for passengers to snap photos, but no memorial to King was created at the residence.
Toxicology results will show whether King, who struggled with addiction throughout his life, had any alcohol or drugs in his system.
Police have said there were no signs of alcohol or drug paraphernalia near the pool. Officers were seen taking a marijuana plant out of the house Sunday, but Shepherd said he could not confirm what items were taken from the home. De Anda said King was only in the water three to four minutes between the time his fiancee called 911 and when officers arrived and pulled him from the water. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:11 a.m.
It was a grim end for King, who symbolized the problem of police brutality and struggled with addiction and repeated arrests. Long after the $3.8 million he’d been awarded in a civil case was spent on record label and other failed ventures, King would periodically resurface, appearing on “Celebrity Rehab” or sparring in the occasional boxing match. He spent the last months of his life promoting a memoir he titled “The Riot Within: From Rebellion to Redemption.”
 
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