Rodney King dead at 47 - beating by police triggered L.A. Riots of 1992

Rodney King, the man whose beating by police (and the officers' subsequent acquittal) triggered the Los Angeles Riots of 1992, was found dead at the bottom of a pool early in the morning of June 17. He was 47.

According to TMZ, King's fiance, Cynthia Kelly -- a juror on the civil case he won against the City of Los Angeles, CNN reports -- found him at the bottom of a pool in Rialito, Calif. She called police at 5:25 a.m. EMTs pulled King from the pool and tried to revive him with CPR, but he was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:11 a.m.

King was beaten by police after a traffic stop in 1991, and the incident was caught on videotape by a bystander. After the four cops were all acquitted in April of 1992, riots broke out in the city of Los Angeles for six days. Two of the policemen were later convicted in federal court, and King won a lawsuit against the city.

In later years, King brought his struggle with alcoholism to reality TV, where he appeared on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab" and "Sober House."