Rodney King laid to rest in LA

King, 47, was found dead in his swimming pool at his Rialto, California, home last month.

About 225 mourners attended the ceremony in the Hall of Liberty, where pictures from King's life were projected on a screen above the stage and a black casket covered with a wreath of white roses, blue irises and hydrangeas.

One of his daughters, Laura Dene King, 28, called her father a "gentle giant."

"I will remember his smile, his unconditional love ... He was a great father, a great friend, he loved everyone. People will just have to smile when they think of him," Laura said during the solemn memorial service.

 

Prominent Black rights campaigner the Reverend Al Sharpton called King a "symbol of forgiveness" ahead of his funeral at the Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills cemetery.

"He became a symbol of forgiveness," he added before the funeral, also attended by the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

Jobless and nearly broke in the end, King died on June 17. Rialto police received a 911 call from King's fiancee, Cynthia Kelly, on that day. Responding officers found King at the bottom of the pool. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

A preliminary autopsy report will not be released, coroner spokeswoman Jody Miller said. The coroner will wait until a full report based on the toxicology exam findings is available in six to eight weeks, Miller said.

There were no preliminary signs of foul play and no obvious injuries on King's body, police said, adding that they are conducting a drowning investigation.

King's beating on March 3, 1991 after a high-speed car chase and its aftermath forever changed Los Angeles, its police department and the dialogue on race in America. (More)