Rodney King
Rodney Glen King was the black motorist whose beating by white police officers ultimately sparked widespread rioting in Los Angeles in 1992. In the early hours of 3 March 1991, King was pulled over by the cops for driving recklessly. A witness, George Holliday, videotaped the end of King's encounter with police from his apartment balcony. The video shows the officers severely beating King in the presence of other L.A. cops -- all told, nearly 20 seconds of whacking and kicking as King tries to rise from the ground. Aired repeatedly all over the U.S., the footage shocked viewers and charges were brought against four cops: Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, Timothy Wind and Stacey Koon. On 29 April 1992 a jury acquitted three of the officers and deadlocked on the charges against Powell. Predominantly African American areas of the city erupted in violence, and after six days there were more than 50 fatalities, thousands of arrests and an estimated billion dollars in property damage. At one point King appeared before cameras in a plea that has since been boiled down to simply, "Can we all get along here? Can we all get along?" King was awarded $3.8 million after a civil suit against the city (and others).
Extra credit: Powell and Koon were convicted in federal court of violating King's civil rights and were sentenced to 30 months in prison... King still occasionally makes headlines over minor run-ins with the law.