Rodney King Arrested in Dispute With Wife

Rodney King, the black motorist whose videotaped beating by white police officers spawned a critical look at police around the nation, was arrested Friday after his wife complained that he had injured her in a domestic dispute.

King’s wife, Crystal Waters, called police and reported that she had been injured in a dispute with her husband and was concerned for her life, Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker said.

Officers sent to the couple’s apartment on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in the Studio City section of the San Fernando Valley about 2:30 p.m. questioned the woman. When they found out that the other party in the dispute was King, they called a supervisor who summoned Kroeker.

Kroeker said the couple had argued over possession of some personal items, including a small tape recorder, but “The items were secondary to the topic of the argument.”

Neither King nor his wife appeared to have been drinking or under the influence of drugs, he said.

“They both seemed very sober and coherent,” Kroeker said, adding that Waters appeared to have some minor cuts.

King’s attorney, Steven Lehrman, arrived before police actually handcuffed King and led him out the rear of the complex to a patrol car waiting in the alley, Kroeker said.

The deputy chief described King as a little upset, but relatively calm at the scene and cooperative during the arrest.

“His attitude seems a little bit upset as anyone would be being arrested,” he said.

Lehrman said about 6:15 p.m. that King was not charged and would be released. Domestic violence involving an injury is a felony under California law.

Kroeker said his instructions were to handle this case according to the law and department guidelines, just as if it were any other domestic violence case.

“She (Waters) related some disputes she had in the past and expressed some concern for her safety based on those incidents,” Kroeker said.

None of those prior disputes had apparently been reported to police.

Lehrman said if it were not for King’s notoriety, it would have been a “contact and release,” in which the police calmed down the arguing couple and left.

King was arrested the same day retiring Chief Daryl F. Gates, who has spent the last year under intense pressure since his officers beat King, spent his last day on the job.

King’s whereabouts have been kept secret, and his last public appearance was a televised appeal for calm during the three-day Los Angeles riots that began April 29.

The riots began the afternoon of the acquittals of four Los Angeles policemen charged with brutalizing King. Only Officer Laurence Powell was not exonerated of all charges. He awaits retrial on one count of assault under color of authority.

King was arrested several months ago after soliciting a prostitute in Hollywood, but was not charged. He was on parole for a robbery conviction when he was pulled over March 3, 1991, and beaten and kicked by a group of officers in an incident that was broadcast around the world.