LA riots 1992: the key figures Rodney King was beaten by police on March 3, 1991 following a high-speed chase. He suffered a fracture to the base of his skull. The riot began a year later when the accused officers were cleared. King, 47, has since been arrested for alcohol-related crimes and appeared on "Celebrity Rehab." He received a $3.8 million settlement in a civil case against the city but spent it. He later became engaged to a juror who had served in the civil case. He is currently promoting his newly published memoir. The truck driver who was the first victim of the riots after being dragged from his cab at the Florence and Normandie junction. Denny suffered 90 fractures and had to undergo years of therapy to restore his speech. He publicly forgave his attackers and even met one of them for a TV show. He is now 56 and a boat mechanic in Arizona. Watson, a former US Marine, was 27 when he was filmed stomping on Reginald Denny's head. He was convicted of assault, and later personally apologised to Denny. He still lives a few blocks away and runs a successful limousine service. He said: "I got caught up in the emotions like everyone else. The anger and the rage just took hold to where I, nor anyone who was out there that day, was in their right frame of mind. Williams, a 19-year-old gang member, was a former high school American football star. He smashed Denny in the back of the head with a brick and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Released after four years, he was then convicted in 2003 of murdering a drug dealer and jailed for life with a minimum of 46 years. Gates had been Los Angeles's chief of police for 14 years and was nationally respected for pioneering SWAT teams. He was a polarising figure because of his hardline approach to policing. A commission blamed him for a slow response to the riots. He retired a month after the riots and died from cancer at the age of 83 in 2010.