Rodney King Pleads Guilty to Reckless Driving, Sentenced to House Detention and Probation
Rodney King, known for getting brutally beaten by police which sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots, pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor reckless driving stemming from his arrest in last summer on suspicion of driving under the influence.
The terms of the plea agreement state that King was sentenced to 20 days of home detention and ordered to wear an ankle bracelet to monitor his movement.
Authorities agreed to drop two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence, although King was fined $500 and ordered to complete a nine-month sobriety education program. He was also placed on three years of probation, according to John Hall, spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney.
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Last July, King was driving a 1994 Mitsubishi when he was pulled over by a traffic officer in Moreno Valley which is about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Following his July arrest, King told CNN in an interview that when he was arrested he was under the influence of a "medical marijuana prescription" but denied driving while intoxicated.
According to Riverside County prosecutors, King's blood alcohol reading was 0.06 percent, which is below the 0.08 legal limit in California.
"He was driving while intoxicated and found to have a measurable amount of alcohol in his system. However, we believe we would have been unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury that his blood-alcohol content was 0.08 percent or higher," Hall said.
This was not the first time King had been arrested. He served a 90-day jail term in 1996 for a hit-and-run involving his wife. In 2004 King pleaded guilty to reckless driving and driving under the influence of a controlled substance.
In a 2011 documentary, King spoke to CNN's Don Lemon about his struggle with alcohol abuse. "I'll always have an issue when it comes to alcohol. My dad was an alcoholic, the addiction part is in my blood," King said.
"What I've learned to do is to arrest my addiction. Arrest it myself, so I don't get arrested."
