POLICE ARREST RODNEY KING

Central Figure In 1991 Videotaped Beating By LAPD Officers Is Accused Of
Being Under The Influence Of Drugs At Claremont Motel.

CLAREMONT -- Rodney King thought his car had been stolen Tuesday morning,
but he was the one who ended up in custody on suspicion of being under the
influence of PCP, police said.

It was the latest in a string of problems King has encountered with police
since his 1991 beating by Los Angeles police officers was caught on
videotape and he became a worldwide symbol of police brutality.

"He just wants to live a normal, quiet life," his civil attorney, Renee
Campbell, said. "And every time it seems like we're on that road, it seems
like it eludes him again." King, 36, told a clerk at a Howard Johnson's
motel where he was staying that his car was stolen, Claremont Police Lt.
Gary Jenkins said. The clerk called police, but by the time they arrived,
King remembered he had lent the car to his girlfriend, Jenkins said.

The clerk told police King was rambling.

Police noticed that King was confused and had a high heart rate, so they
gave him a field test to see if he was under the influence of drugs,
Jenkins said.

King refused to give police a urine sample and was taken to Pomona Valley
Hospital Medical Center in Pomona for a routine examination, Jenkins said.
He was taken to Claremont's city jail, where he was booked. He was later
issued a citation and released, with orders to return to court Oct. 2 to
face the misdemeanor charge.

Officers did not find any drugs in his motel room, Jenkins said.

Aside from refusing to provide a urine sample, King was cooperative and his
arrest was uneventful, Jenkins said.

Campbell, who is representing King in a lawsuit against his former
attorney, Steven Lerman, said King called her after the release and denied
being under the influence.

"Rodney was mistaken about whether his car had been stolen," Campbell said.
"He told me the whole thing was a big mistake, and the next thing he knew
he was being handcuffed.

"I'm curious as to why he was detained at all."

LAPD officers involved in King's beating and arrest on the night of March
3, 1991, said they thought he was on PCP because of his behavior. It later
was determined that he was not. The officers' acquittal in 1992 sparked
riots in Los Angeles.

Before he gained notoriety, King had been imprisoned for armed robbery and
assaulting a convenience store clerk with a tire iron, Lerman said.

"It's a shame he can't learn his lesson," Lerman said.

More recently, King served 60 days in county jail for assaulting his
daughter in early 1999 in San Bernardino County. He has also been arrested
six other times since 1991 for driving under the influence, assaulting his
wife, and assaulting another daughter in the early 1990s, Lerman said.

Until Tuesday, King enjoyed a couple years of relative calm, working for
his brother's construction company, Campbell said.

"Every time people see that he is Rodney King, a normal, everyday incident
gets transformed into a major event," she said. "Everybody knows who Rodney
King is. Once again they've got the big fish."