Rodney King Is Charged With Drunk Driving in Pennsylvania

Rodney G. King, whose videotaped beating by police sparked the Los Angeles riots three years ago after not-guilty verdicts were reached concerning the officers involved, was charged with drunk driving here after he refused to take a blood-alcohol test, police said.

Officers stopped King about 11:30 p.m. Sunday after he was involved in a one-car accident and tried to make a U-turn near New Castle, according to the Union Township police report.

Patrolman Clint Garver said he smelled alcohol on King’s breath. King was taken to a hospital but refused to take the test, according to the report.

He was arraigned early Monday before District Justice David Rishel. King was cooperative and was released on his own recognizance after he agreed to appear at a May 30 hearing, police said.

King, 30, lives in Altadena. He was in the New Castle area, northwest of Pittsburgh, to attend a funeral.

His March, 1991, beating, videotaped by a man who lived nearby, occurred after officers spotted King driving erratically and he led them on a chase.

Riots broke out in Los Angeles on April 29, 1992, when not-guilty verdicts were returned in the state trial of four officers. Two of the officers were later convicted on federal civil rights charges.