COVID-19 Claims George Holliday, Who Filmed Rodney King Beating

LOS ANGELES, CA — George Holliday, a plumber who filmed what might have been the most infamous video in Los Angeles history, has died at 61 from complications of COVID-19, a friend said.

In one night 30 years ago, Holliday forever changed policing in Los Angeles and forced the nation to grapple with the intersection of police brutality and race when he filmed the beating of Rodney King in Lake View Terrace by four Los Angeles police officers. The video launched a national controversy; and after the four officers were acquitted of charges related to the beating, the 1992 Los Angeles riots were ignited.

Holliday, 61, died Sunday at a Los Angeles hospital, where he had been for more than a month, according to Robert Wollenweber, a longtime friend and former co-worker. Holliday was not vaccinated and was on a ventilator in recent days after contracting pneumonia, Wollenweber said.

Though the video made him a key figure in Los Angeles history, Holiday remained a plumber throughout his life, never having profited from the footage.

King's daughter, Lora Dene King, issued a statement Monday reacting to Holliday's death, saying, "The King family will be forever grateful to George Holliday, who had the courage and conviction to hold the LAPD accountable in their brutal beating of my father Rodney. Our condolences are extended to his family and friends."

Considered the first viral video, the image of four white officers kicking and bashing the skull of a black man on the ground also outraged millions.

Last year, Holliday reflected on the video and its power to effect change.

"I hope this video camera inspires people to use their power to record events that they find troubling. Don't be afraid to use it," Holliday said in a statement released by an auction house selling the historic camera Holliday used to record the King beating.

The video led to upheaval within the Los Angeles Police Department, sparking calls for the ouster of then-Chief Daryl Gates and prompting the appointment of the Christopher Commission to examine the inner workings of the LAPD and allegations of excessive force and institutional racism.

It all started on March 3, 1991, when Holliday stood on the balcony of his apartment and used his Sony Video8 Handycam to record four white Los Angeles police officers using batons, Tasers and feet to subdue a Black man later identified as King, whose name quickly became globally synonymous with police brutality.

King, an unemployed construction worker who had been drinking and was on probation for a robbery conviction, was instructed to pull over for speeding on a Los Angeles freeway. He eventually stopped his car in front of Holliday's apartment building, where Los Angeles police took charge of the traffic stop that devolved into a violent confrontation as officers trying to subdue King pounded on him repeatedly, as others looked on.

King was left with skull fractures, broken bones and teeth and permanent brain damage.

The commotion outside his window wakened Holliday, who recorded the beating just after midnight and contacted KTLA5 later that day. The station became the first to air the footage that would be seen across the globe, becoming what would be considered a viral video.

A year later, Holliday's out-of-focus footage — about 9 minutes worth — was a key piece of evidence at the four officers' criminal trial for assault and excessive use of force.

When the four officers involved in the King beating were acquitted of excessive use of force by a jury in Ventura County, five days of rioting ensued in Los Angeles, resulting in 54 deaths, some 2,400 injuries, scores of destroyed buildings and other property damage, and more than 12,000 arrests. The acquitted police officers were later convicted of violating Rodney King's civil rights in a federal court trial.

King, a Sacramento native, died in Rialto on June 17, 2012, of what was described as an accidental drowning. He was 47. Before his death, he authored "The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption."

The grainy footage Holliday shot that night made the then-31-year-old plumber a pioneer of citizen journalism. The Sony video camera used to record the episode went up for auction last July, with bidding starting at $225,000, although it was unclear if the camera was ever sold.

Holliday told The New York Times last year that he was still working as a plumber, never profiting from the video, which was still in the possession of federal authorities.

He told the paper he had purchased the video camera about a month before the King beating, and he grabbed it instinctively when he and his wife were awakened by the police ruckus outside his window.

"You know how it is when you have a new piece of technology," he told the paper. "You film anything and everything."

City News Service, the Associated Press and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.