Rodney King Booked on Charges Stemming From Family Dispute

RANCHO CUCAMONGA —  Rodney King, whose videotaped beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 brought him a $3.8-million civil award, was booked into jail Friday on misdemeanor charges that he assaulted his daughter and her mother at their Fontana home in January.

The incident marks the seventh time that King, 33, has been arrested on various charges since his beating and the subsequent criminal trial of the police officers, whose acquittals sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In most cases, King was acquitted or charges were dropped.

In the most recent incident, the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office filed an arrest warrant for King on Wednesday. It stemmed from an altercation Jan. 31 involving his 16-year-old daughter and her mother, said a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

King was charged with domestic violence, child abuse and vandalism.

He turned himself in to deputies in Fontana on Friday, and was booked into the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. He was released on $6,580 bail.

“It’s a family misunderstanding, blown way out of proportion,” King told reporters. “No, I didn’t hurt anybody.”

King’s attorney, Edi Faal, said King intervened in a disciplinary issue involving the teenager, who, Faal said, was “in a situation where she was in danger.”

“As a parent, Mr. King decided to step in and take her out of the situation, and admonished her as a parent,” Faal said. “That conduct is now being turned into criminal conduct.”

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department offered no details about the incident, and the prosecutor handling the case did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Among King’s most serious brushes with the law was his conviction for hit-and-run driving in 1995. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail for forcing his estranged wife from their car and driving off, knocking her down and injuring her.