A white amateur photographer named George Holliday happened to be on hand to videotape the scene of Rodney King’s beating by Los Angeles police on March 3, 1991, while testing his new camcorder.
The images of black motorist King being kicked and clubbed by white officers shocked the country.
A year later, news of the white officers’ acquittal on assault charges sparked three days of rioting in minority areas of Los Angeles, beginning on April 29, 1992.