King Cleared in Alleged Assault on L.A. Officer : Crime: The state attorney general’s office finds insufficient evidence that the beating victim intended to run over an undercover policeman in alley.

Rodney G. King will not be prosecuted on felony assault charges for allegedly attempting to run over an undercover Los Angeles police officer in a Hollywood alley in May, the state attorney general’s office announced Friday.

After what he called an “extensive investigation and review,” George Williamson, assistant attorney general in the agency’s criminal division, said his office has determined that there is insufficient evidence to support allegations of assault with a deadly weapon against the 25-year-old King.

Williamson said King drove his vehicle at the undercover officer because he believed the man was a potential robber, not because he was trying to elude arrest for soliciting a transvestite prostitute.

Steven Lerman, a lawyer who has been representing King since he was beaten March 3 by a group of LAPD officers, said the attorney general made the right decision in not prosecuting his client.

“I said it was a setup from the get-go,” Lerman said. “He was set up by the cops and this absolutely is a vindication of what we’ve been saying. I am pleased that they have finally exonerated him.”

However, Lt. Fred Nixon, an LAPD spokesman, denied Lerman’s allegations that police officers were trying to entrap King to discredit him in the beating case.

“The attorney general has taken a look at it, probably a dispassionate look at it, and we are very happy that the system has worked,” Nixon said. “And nothing could make us happier than to have no further involvement with Rodney King.”

The prostitution incident is the second time that the attorney general has cleared King in a criminal probe since the beating in Lakeview Terrace. The attorney general also declined to file charges against King after reviewing two armed robberies in which King was implicated as a possible suspect.

In the most recent case, the events of May 28 began when two undercover vice officers spotted King and a transvestite prostitute in King’s gray Chevrolet Blazer in an alley behind an apartment complex in the 4300 block of Gateway Avenue.

According to the police officers, they identified themselves as members of the LAPD and were preparing to arrest King when he suddenly began driving out of the alley. One of the officers said that King aimed the Blazer at him, and that he had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit.

However, Lerman has insisted that King sincerely believed the officers were actually bandits and that he quickly drove away from the alley to avoid being hurt. Lerman also noted that King later flagged down two uniformed officers and reported the incident.

The attorney general’s office was given the investigation after the LAPD concluded that because of the highly publicized beating case, there would be an appearance of a conflict of interest if the Police Department pursued the matter.

Williamson, in announcing that he would not be filing charges against King, said a charge of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer would require proof that King knew the man standing in the alley was a police officer.

He said there would have to be evidence that King “deliberately intended to cause the officer harm by attempting to hit the officer with his vehicle.”

“Evidence in the case established a clear lack of such knowledge and intent,” Williamson said.

“Furthermore,” he added, “the evidence strongly supported Mr. King’s claim that he was reasonably in fear of his life.”