Rodney King Arrested on Drug Charges Again

Rodney King, whose videotaped beating by LAPD officers captured international attention, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of indecent exposure and of being under the influence of drugs, authorities said.

King’s arrest in Pomona was the second in a month and the latest in a string of legal run-ins since his beating by Los Angeles police officers in 1991.

The incident began about 3:30 p.m. after police received a call complaining that King was at Ganesha Park exhibiting “bizarre behavior,” such as taking off his clothes, according to Lt. Rick Mackey of the Pomona Police Department.

King left the park, but witnesses described the car he was in. Officers pulled over the car, driven by a woman, near the park, Mackey said.

“He was displaying symptoms associated with PCP intoxication,” Mackey said. The woman was not arrested.

King, 36, was taken to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center where he was examined by doctors and transferred to jail. He was released early Sunday after posting bail and is due in court Nov. 9, Mackey said.

Renee Campbell, King’s lawyer, said Sunday afternoon that she was unaware of King’s arrest and would not comment.

Since his 1991 beating, King has had numerous encounters with the law, including alcohol-related, drug-related and domestic-violence arrests.

In August he was charged with a misdemeanor count of being under the influence of PCP in Claremont. The case is pending.

In 1999, he was charged with domestic violence, child abuse and vandalism after an incident in which he was accused of assaulting his 16-year-old daughter and her mother in Fontana. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail.

In 1995 he was convicted of hit-and-run driving in Alhambra after he forced his estranged wife out of the car and drove away. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

After the drug arrest in August, Campbell said: “He just wants to live a normal, quiet life. And every time it seems like we’re on that road, it seems like it eludes him again.”