Los Angeles - Rodney King, the African-American whose videotaped beating by police sparked one of the worst urban riots in US history, was wounded in a shooting near his California home, police said Thursday. King was hit in the face and arm by shotgun pellets Wednesday night on a street corner in San Bernardino, about 100 kilometres east of Los Angeles. He was able to bicycle home to neighboring Rialto to call police and was taken to a nearby hospital, the Riverside Press Enterprise reported. Police said that King and several friends at his house appeared intoxicated at the time and were uncooperative.
The shooting may have involved a domestic dispute, San Bernardino Police Lieutenant Scott Paterson told the San Bernardino County Sun.
King was beaten by police in 1991 when he resisted arrest following a high-speed chase in Los Angeles. The officers' subsequent acquittal a year later on state criminal charges sparked deadly rioting in Los Angeles, which left more than 50 people dead. The riots left thousands injured and caused more than 1 billion dollars in property damage in mostly poor neighbourhoods.
A civil jury later awarded King 3.8 million dollars in damages, and the police officers were later convicted on separate criminal charges in a federal court.
