The Rodney G. King Beating : An 81-second videotape that rocked the city and brought a year of sweeping change.

1991

THE BEATING

March 3: Los Angeles police officers from the Foothill Division pull over 25-year-old unemployed construction worker Rodney G. King at 12:30 a.m., after he allegedly leads them on a high-speed chase that ends in Lake View Terrace. A bystander captures on videotape police officers beating King.

March 4: The bystander, Lake View Terrace resident George Holliday, sells video to KTLA for $500.

March 6: Police Chief Daryl F. Gates apologizes for the beating of King, and calls it an “aberration,” prompting scattered calls for the chief’s resignation.

March 7: During a brief news conference, King shows bruises and gives his version of the beating. He is freed after district attorney’s office announces that there is not enough evidence to file criminal charges against him. Gates recommends felony prosecution for three officers who participated in the beating and promises to discipline a sergeant and as many as 11 other officers who watched.

March 11: The Los Angeles County Grand Jury begins hearing testimony from three witnesses.

March 12: Mayor Tom Bradley asks the City Council to put before the voters a City Charter amendment proposing that the police chief and all other department managers be subject to a performance review and possible dismissal every five years. The top-ranking police officer in the San Fernando Valley, Cmdr. Jim Jones, is reassigned as part of a shuffling in which two deputy chiefs and another commander are transferred.

THE INDICTMENT

March 15: The Los Angeles County grand jury indicts four police officers on five felony charges.

March 19: Internal police documents disclose that the beating was downplayed, claiming King suffered only cuts and bruises “of a minor nature.”

March 20: Returning from a business trip to Hawaii, Bradley tells reporters that “the only way” for the Police Department to recover from the controversy is for Gates “to remove himself” from the job.

March 21: Los Angeles police officials say blood and urine samples taken after the beating show King was legally drunk.

March 22: Transcripts of grand jury testimony show police officers flippantly remarked in the hospital to King that “we played a good game of hardball” and ‘we hit quite a few home runs” after he was struck repeatedly with batons.

March 25: FBI agents begin visiting the homes of 246 officers who work in the Foothill Division to learn if there is a pattern of civil rights abuses.

THE PLEA

March 26: The four police officers plead not guilty. Dozens of colleagues refused to be questioned by FBI agents about possible civil rights abuse pattern. King and his wife file claims totaling $83 million against the city.

March 27: Gates asks retired state Supreme Court Justice John A. Arguelles to head a five-member panel that will examine excessive-force incidents and recommend reforms of LAPD policies.

March 28: Records show $11.3 million was paid by the city of Los Angeles in 1990 to resolve police abuse cases.

March 30: Bradley appoints former Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher as chairman of a seven-member citizen commission to conduct a broad inquiry into Police Department practices and procedures.

April 2: More than a dozen police officers, none of them involved in the beating, transfer from the Foothill Division in an effort to restore public confidence. In a live televised address, Bradley says he asked Gates to resign, but Gates refused.

THE LEAVE OF ABSENCE

April 4: Police Commission places Gates on paid 60-day leave and the chief pledges to appeal commission action. Christopher and Arguelles commissions merge into a single independent commission.

April 5: City Council orders the reinstatement of Gates, and the chief agrees not to sue the city for monetary damages. The Christopher Commission meets for the first time, promising a top-to-bottom probe of every aspect of the Police Department. Gates returns to work after a five-day forced leave of absence.

April 15: Paul Jefferson, a black police captain, replaces John Mutz, a white captain in charge of patrol officers at the Foothill Division.

April 17: Los Angeles Police Protective League’s Board of Directors votes unanimously against backing a proposed recall of the mayor.

April 22: A California Highway Patrol lieutenant is recommended for demotion and a captain and sergeant face suspensions without pay for failing to investigate the King beating quickly enough. The King incident began as a pursuit by the CHP.

April 24: State attorney general announces insufficient evidence to file criminal charges against King in two San Fernando Valley armed robberies that occurred weeks before the beating.

April 30: The Christopher Commission holds its first public hearings.

May 1: City Council rejects Larry Drasin, Bradley’s nominee for the Civil Service Commission, as a signal to Bradley that the council will not tolerate his interfering with the city’s Civil Service system in his bid to oust Gates. Police Commissioner Melanie Lomax is accused of leaking confidential documents to a lawyer with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

May 2: Police officers receive a copy of a memo from Gates that emphasizes their obligation to intervene if they see another officer engaged in misconduct and to report the matter immediately to their superiors.

THE DISCIPLINE

May 7: Gates takes disciplinary action against the four criminally charged officers. He fires probationary Officer Timothy E. Wind and suspends the other three without pay.

May 10: Grand jury decides not to indict any of the 17 officers who were at the scene but did not take part in the attack.

May 11: King is pulled over in Santa Fe Springs, but not cited, when sheriff’s deputies decide his vehicle has illegally tinted windows, then determine that his vehicle registration has expired and he is not carrying his driver’s license.

May 13: A Los Angeles Superior Court judge rules that the City Council acted within its authority when it preempted the Police Commission’s move to place Gates on a 60-day leave.

May 14: The judge in the King case refuses to grant separate trials for the four indicted officers.

May 22: Judge calls published confidential details in a 314-page Internal Affairs report a “distraction,” but says they will not jeopardize a fair trial. He orders a Times reporter to appear in court and disclose the source of the material.

May 23: Lawyers and community activists state publicly that the LAPD uses embarrassing personal information collected on political figures, particularly members of the City Council, to ensure support.

May 28: King is arrested, then released after he allegedly tries to run down an undercover vice officer after picking up a transvestite prostitute in Hollywood.

May 30: A Times reporter refuses to disclose confidential source, which prompts the judge to impose a $1,500 fine.

THE REFORMS

June 5: Passage of Charter Amendment 5 grants the council unprecedented power over the city’s 40 commissions, including the controversy-ridden Police Commission.

June 11: Christopher Commission drops bid for officers’ personnel files rather than allow a court representative to sit in on its closed-door deliberations.

June 21: State parole board decides not to charge King with a parole violation in connection with his arrest May 28.

June 22: Two-day summit meeting involving the U.S. Justice Department, 20 Los Angeles County police chiefs and 60 minority community representatives produces agreement to form a permanent working group to tackle issues aggravating police-minority relations.

June 24: King sells option to a film company to make a movie.

June 25: Police Protective League official advises officers to be less aggressive on the streets to protect their careers.

June 26: Damage claim of $83 million filed by King and his wife is rejected by the city, clearing the path to seek damages in court.

June 29: Freddie Helms, a passenger with King on the night of the beating, is killed in car crash.

July 2: Police Commission orders Gates to make sweeping changes in handling misconduct allegations.

THE CHRISTOPHER REPORT

July 9: Christopher Commission report is released suggesting Gates step down. Police Commissioners Lomax and Williams resign after the Christopher Commission suggested the entire Police Commission should step down.

July 10: Gates strips Assistant Chief David D. Dotson of his command after he complained openly of the chief’s record in disciplining.

July 11: Gates tells two members of the City Council that he will leave his post at the end of the year. July 15: The City Council’s Public Safety Committee begins hearings on reform proposals contained in the Christopher Commission report. Defense files formal request to remove Judge Bernard J. Kamins from the case.

July 16: Police Commission orders Gates to reinstate Dotson as head of the Internal Affairs division.

July 19: Judge Kamins refuses to quit case.

July 22: In a video played at police roll calls, Gates announces April, 1992, date for retirement.

July 23: State appeals court orders trial of officers out of the county because of publicity and political fallout.

July 26: King cleared on felony assault charges for allegedly attempting to run over an undercover police officer on May 28.

July 29: Six LAPD officers who were among 19 present during the King beating are taken off duty without pay.

Aug. 7: Police Department officials begin interviewing more than 100 officers who allegedly sent derogatory remarks over computer equipment.

THE JUDGE’S REMOVAL

Aug. 21: 2nd District Court of Appeal prohibits Judge Kamins from presiding over trial.

Aug. 29: A 43-member citizen’s committee forms to assist in the implementation of Christopher Commission recommendations.

THE CHARTER AMENDMENT

Sept. 3: City Council approves ballot proposals limiting the terms of future police chiefs to 10 years and changing how they may be hired and fired.

Sept. 16: State appellate court rejects Kamins’ bid to preside in King trial.

Oct. 1: Police Commission approves a vast majority of the 129 reform recommendations issued by the Christopher Commission.

Nov. 19: Twenty-eight of 44 “problem officers” noted in the Christopher Commission report undergo evaluation by LAPD psychological counselors.

THE CHANGE OF VENUE

Nov. 26: Judge Stanley M. Weisberg announces trial to begin on Feb. 3 in Ventura County.

Dec. 2: School district commission rescinds the firings of two Los Angeles school police officers who were removed last May for not intervening during King beating.

Dec. 3: City Council endorses experimental community-based policing program that emphasizes crime prevention over arrests at four of the department’s 18 stations in January.

Dec. 18: Thirty-two apply for police chief as application period closes.

Dec. 20: Officer Timothy Blake, the first of seven “bystander” officers at the King beating to face a Board of Rights hearing is cleared.

1992

Jan. 10: Two thousand notices go out to prospective jurors.

Jan. 26: Police Commission approves Gates’ community-based policing plan.

THE TRIAL

Feb. 3: Pretrial motions begin and Weisberg turns down unusual request from the defense attorneys that peace officer--by state law excluded from sitting on criminal court juries--be considered for jury duty in the King case.

March 3: Twelve jurors are selected--none of them black.

March 4: Weisberg bars defense attorneys from telling the jury about King’s criminal record, including his imprisonment for robbery.

March 17: Prosecuting attorneys rest their case without calling King to the stand.

March 31: Officer Laurence M. Powell, who is seen on the videotape striking the most blows to King, testifies he was “scared to death” that King would grab a gun.

April 3: Officer Theodore J. Briseno, breaking ranks, testifies that King never posed a threat to the officers, that “the whole thing was out of control.”

April 7: Two officers contend that Briseno lied when he said he was upset about the beating. Officers say Briseno told them there was no police misconduct.

April 13: LAPD expert testifies officers had five opportunities to cease beating.

THE NEW CHIEF

April 16: Philadelphia Police Commissioner Willie L. Williams is named to succeed Gates.

April 23: After final arguments, jury begins its deliberation.

THE VERDICT

April 29: Jury returns not guilty verdicts on all charges except on one count of excessive force against Officer Powell and a mistrial is declared on that count alone.