Another timeline here...
| 1991 | |
| March 3 | Los Angeles police officers use force in subduing Rodney G. King, an African American. George Holliday tapes the beating on his home video camera and gives it to a local TV station; it is soon seen around the world. |
| March 7 | King is released after the district attorney’s office announces there is not enough evidence to file criminal charges. |
| March 15 | Four Los Angeles police officers—Sergeant Stacey C. Koon and officers Laurence M. Powell, Timothy E. Wind, and Theodore J. Briseno—are arraigned on felony charges stemming from the King beating. |
| March 16 | A store security camera shows the fatal shooting of fifteen-year-old Latasha Harlins, an African American, by Soon Ja Du, a Korean American storekeeper. |
| March 26 | The four police officers charged in the King beating plead not guilty. Soon Ja Du is arraigned on one count of murder. |
| May 10 | A grand jury decides not to indict any of the 19 officers who were bystanders to the beating. The police department later disciplines ten of them. |
| July 23 | The State Second District Court of Appeal announces the trial of the four officers will be held out of Los Angeles County. |
| September 30 | The trial of Soon Ja Du begins. |
| November 15 | Compton Superior Court Judge Joyce A. Karlin sentences Soon Ja Du to five years probation, 400 hours of community service, and $500 fine for the shooting death of Latasha Harlins. |
| November 26 | The trial of the officers charged in the King beating is moved from Los Angeles County to Simi Valley in neighboring Ventura County. |
| 1992 | |
| March 4 | The trial of the officers charged in the King beating begins. None of the jurors is African American. |
| April 29 | The jury returns not-guilty verdicts on all charges except one count of excessive force against Officer Powell; a mistrial is declared on that count alone. Violence erupts in Los Angeles. Rioters pull Reginald Denny from his truck and beat him unconscious at the intersection of Florence and Normandie; the incident is captured on video. Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley declares a local emergency. Governor Pete Wilson calls out the National Guard. Fires break out over 25 blocks in central Los Angeles. |
| April 30 | Mayor Tom Bradley imposes a curfew, restricts sales of gasoline, and bans the sale of ammunition.The U.S. Justice Department announces it will investigate possible civil rights violations in the beating of Rodney King. There is looting and/or fires are set in many neighborhoods across the city. |
| May 1 | President George Bush sends federal troops to Los Angeles. |
| May 2 | Clean-up crews arrive. About 30,000 people march through Koreatown in support of Korean American merchants and call for peace. President Bush declares Los Angeles a disaster area. |
| May 3 | The Los Angeles Times reports 51 deaths; 2,383 injuries; more than 7,000 fire responses, 12,111 arrests; and 3,100 businesses damaged. |
| May 4 | With troops guarding the streets, Los Angeles residents return to work and school. |
| May 8 | Federal troops begin to pull out of Los Angeles. |
| May 11 | The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners appoints a commission to study the LAPD’s performance during the civil unrest. |
| May 12 | The L.A. Four, Damian Williams, Antoine Miller, Henry K. Watson, and Gary Williams are arrested for the beating of Reginald Denny. |
| October 17 | A commission holds leaders of the LAPD responsible for the department’s failure to respond quickly to April’s civil unrest. |
| 1993 | |
| January 22 | Ten of the charges against the L.A. Four are dismissed. |
| February 3 | The federal civil rights trial against the four police officers begins. |
| April 17 | Officers Briseno and Wind are acquitted. Officer Powell and Sergeant Koon are found guilty of violating King’s civil rights and sentenced to 30 months in prison. |
| August 19 | The trial of the L.A. Four begins. |
| October 18 | Damian Williams and Henry Keith Watson are acquitted of many of the charges against them. |
| December 7 | Damian Williams is sentenced to a maximum of ten years in prison for his attack on Reginald Denny. |
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Campus Council on Community and Diversity