Rodney King: An enduring symbol of police brutality and racial tension

It was a tragic end to a troubled but important life.

Rodney King, the man who became an unwitting catalyst for civil rights during the LA race riots in 1992, was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool Sunday in Rialto, California. He was 47.

Though toxicology reports will take six to eight weeks, preliminary reports state King had been drinking and possibly smoking dope before his death.

Back in 1991, long before the advent of reality TV, the then-25-year-old construction worker was thrust into the international spotlight via a video that showed four LA police officers brutally beating him.

The video also captured another group of officers standing by and watching as their colleagues repeatedly struck a defenseless King with their batons.

The bystander that happened to catch a portion of the beating on camera released the footage to media. As it beamed into homes around the world, the footage created public outrage in the U.S. and shone a light on racially motivated police brutality in LA.

[Related: Rodney King seen as catalyst for policing change.]

After the courts acquitted the officers, a race riot erupted, engulfing Los Angeles in flames, broken glass and violence. Six days later, 55 people would be dead and two thousand injured, but the issue of state-sanctioned racism outside the American south would finally enter the national conversation in a powerful and unavoidable way.

King was awarded a $3.2 million settlement, but his newfound fame and fortune proved too much for the reportedly shy, reserved man.

"I sometimes feel like I'm caught in a vise. Some people feel like I'm some kind of hero," he told The L.A. Times earlier this year. "Others hate me. They say I deserved it. Other people, I can hear them mocking me for when I called for an end to the destruction, like I'm a fool for believing in peace."

Though many hoped he would become a strong civil rights advocate, King preferred to shun the fame he never asked for and remained out of the public glare.

But before long, he slipped into a cycle of self-destruction that started with booze and drugs, led to a disturbing stint on Celebrity Rehab and ended with his body being recovered from a swimming pool.

In all the coverage that has emerged since King's death, it's impossible to avoid mention of the troubled turn his life took. There are those who would have wished to see King transform a horrible incident into a life of inspiration and advocacy.

Despite his own aversion to the role foisted upon him, King's legacy remains a beacon for policing change in the U.S. and a vital reminder that a post-racial U.S. has yet to actually take root.