Video: 'LA Riots Live Coverage As It Happened 4/29/92'

(Wednesday, April 29, 1992, verdicts announced at 3:15 p.m. PDT; during the 1992 Los Angeles riots) — Four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of using excessive force today in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King that had stunned the nation, a verdict that touched off six days of riots and civil disturbances.

Jurors said it had taken only a day to reach their acquittals on the main charges against Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, Officers Laurence M. Powell, Theodore J. Briseno, and former Officer Timothy E. Wind. Jurors said that after six more days of deliberation they remained deadlocked on a charge against Officer Powell of use of excessive force.

Video: 'Rodney King riots dramatic news clips 1992'

Video of the March 3, 1991, beating, with its kicks and its 56 baton swings, was widely shown in television broadcasts. It immediately became one of the most visible uses of force by police in this country’s history and put the issue of police brutality on the national agenda.

Immediately after the verdicts, an unusually impassioned Mayor Bradley appeared on television to appeal for calm in a city where the videotape had come to symbolize complaints about police brutality, racism, and street violence.

Video: 'LA 92 (Full Documentary) | National Geographic' (verdict at 37:23)

“Today the system failed us,” the Mayor said.

Despite Bradley’s plea, street violence, looting, fires, and assaults on passing motorists broke out in South Central Los Angeles within hours of the verdicts.

Video: 'The Lost Tapes: LA Riots (Full Episode)' (verdict at 10:22)

The unrest spread to several areas in the Los Angeles metropolitan area as thousands of people rioted over six days following the verdict’s announcement. The situation was resolved only after the California National Guard, United States military, and several federal law enforcement agencies deployed more than 5,000 federal troops to assist in ending the violence and unrest.

By the time the riots had ended on May 4, 1992, 63 people had been killed, 2,383 had been injured, more than 12,000 had been arrested, and estimates of property damage were over $1 billion.