King Arrested, Then Freed, After Wife Is Injured During Argument

Rodney G. King, the black motorist whose videotaped beating by white Los Angeles police officers caused international outrage, was arrested at his Studio City apartment Friday after his wife said he had injured her during an argument and that she feared for her life.

King, 27, was released from custody four hours later after his wife, Crystal Lynette Waters, declined to file a complaint against him and investigators found insufficient reason to press charges, said Deputy Police Chief Mark Kroeker

Officers said they went to the King residence on Laurel Canyon Boulevard about 2:30 p.m. when Waters called to report that “she and her husband had struggled over some items in the apartment and she had some minor injuries,” Kroeker said.

“She expressed a concern for her own safety and . . . for her life,” Kroeker said. He said it was not until officers reached the apartment that Waters informed them that her husband is King.

The arriving officers immediately called in Kroeker, who commands all police divisions in the San Fernando Valley, because of the sensitivity of the matter. The notoriety surrounding the King beating helped force Chief Daryl F. Gates from office and led the Los Angeles City Council to consider a purported offer to settle a lawsuit filed by King for between $5 million and $8 million.

Kroeker made it clear that the department was taking pains to neither overreact nor underreact.

“We are doing everything within our power to stay within our procedures, and also within the careful and very scrupulous applications of the California Penal Code,” Kroeker told the group of reporters, photographers and camera operators that assembled outside the North Hollywood Division Station and King’s apartment after word of his arrest was made public.

The commotion outside the police station attracted bystanders--some of whom brought along lawn chairs. As the evening wore on, convoys of the curious clogged Laurel Canyon Boulevard near King’s residence.

An examination of Waters at the home showed the injuries to be minor cuts--”the kind of thing our officers encounter every day,” Kroeker said.

Police said Waters told them she had several serious arguments before Friday’s incident, but neighbors said they never heard the couple fighting.

King was handcuffed, led out of the apartment to a back alley, placed in a patrol car and driven to the North Hollywood station, the deputy chief said.

“His attitude was very cooperative,” Kroeker said. “He seemed a little bit upset, as anyone is when being arrested . . . (but) his demeanor was relatively calm.”

Shortly after 6 p.m., Kroeker and King’s attorney, Steven Lerman, emerged from the station to report that after taking detailed statements from King, Waters and the officers who went to their apartment, police had decided to release King.

Waters “didn’t recant, she toned down a little,” Kroeker said, adding that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a booking.

Lerman played down the incident, calling it a “garden variety” family dispute and insisted that there was “no physical altercation.”

Kroeker disagreed with Lerman, saying he had seen “minor cuts on Walters hands and arms” that she suffered in the altercation.

The whereabouts of King and Waters on Friday night were not made known, but Kroeker said the couple, who said they were married in Las Vegas about three years ago, had indicated that they would not spend the night together.

Friday’s arrest was the third time King has been involved with police since the infamous videotaped beating on March 3, 1991.

On May 11, 1991, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies pulled him over in Santa Fe Springs after deciding that his vehicle had illegally tinted windows. Although the deputies determined that his vehicle registration had expired and he was not carrying his driver’s license, King was not cited.

Three weeks later, police arrested King in Hollywood, saying he had tried to run down an undercover vice officer after picking up a transvestite prostitute. Bypassing normal procedures, police released King on his own recognizance. No charges were filed.

Four Los Angeles police officers were tried on charges arising from the 1991 beating. Three were acquitted, but one faces retrial on one count.

In the meantime, King and Waters filed an $83-million lawsuit against the city arising from the beating.

On Wednesday, the City Council began debating behind closed doors a proposal to settle the suit. Although the council could not reach agreement on the proposal to pay King between $5 million and $8 million, several members were said to favor a settlement that would help avoid more unrest in the city.

Friday was Gates’ last official day in office as Los Angeles’ top policeman. His replacement, Willie L. Williams, will be ceremonially sworn into office Tuesday, although he took the oath of office Friday.