Video: '3/7/91: Video of Rodney King Beaten by Police Released'

(Sunday, March 3, 1991, 12:30 a.m. PST) — Four Los Angeles Police Department officers were captured on amateur video early this morning savagely beating black motorist Rodney King after a pursuit through the streets of Los Angeles.

It was one of the first police brutality videos of its kind, and forever changed the conversation about police and race in America.

King, who was intoxicated, had been caught speeding on the 210 Freeway and initially tried to evade the police. When he finally pulled over and exited his car, multiple LAPD units and a helicopter were pursuing him.

Video: 'Rodney King Beating Full Video | 8 minutes SCREENER.'

Taken by bystander George Holliday on his camcorder from his apartment in Lake View Terrace, a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, the video showed four LAPD officers Tazing, kicking and hitting King with their batons upwards of 53 times.

The officers involved — three of them white — were put on trial and acquitted by a majority white jury in April of 1992. The following three days were marred by riots, looting, arson, and extreme violence across the city of Los Angeles.

Video: 'Rodney King beating enhanced' (King beating motion stabilized)

King himself held a press conference during the turmoil, begging the public “can we all get along.” By the time the riots ended, 55 people were dead and more than 2,000 were injured.

A federal jury convicted Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell of violating King’s civil rights in 1993 and sentenced them to 30 months in prison while Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno were found not guilty.

Video: 'Rodney King beating: FIRST EVER VIRAL VIDEO by George Holliday.'

King later settled a civil suit with the city of Los Angeles for $3.8 million.