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News

911 call details moments after Rodney King found in pool

by Anthony McCartney, Associated Press | June 20, 2012 at 10:42 AM
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rodney King’s fiancee repeatedly implored authorities to hurry in a frantic 911 call, saying she woke to the sounds of a fall and found him at the bottom of his swimming pool.

In audio authorities released Tuesday, Cynthia Kelley tells a dispatcher that she threw a shovel to try to rouse King but he wasn’t responding.

“He’s not moving,” Kelley said, crying throughout the early Sunday call. “I was sleeping, all of a sudden I heard something fall like the table and then I looked over and then I went to find him and he’s at the bottom of the swimming pool. He’s still there. Please hurry up.”

The 5-minute, 15-second phone call ends with the arrival of police officers who pulled King from the pool at the Rialto, Calif., home and began life-saving efforts. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police have said they have found no signs of foul play and continue to investigate King’s case as an accidental drowning.

Authorities are awaiting toxicology results and said they’ll use them in conjunction with an autopsy performed Monday to determine how King died.

The dispatcher asked Kelley if she was able to get into the pool to get King out, but she said she couldn’t. She said she tried to “wake him up,” including throwing a shovel into the water, but he wasn’t responding.

At one point, Kelley told dispatchers that the man in the pool was King, “the guy that got beat by the police.”

Kelley, who was interviewed by police for several hours Sunday, is heard on the audio saying she needs to call King’s family.

King became famous after his severe beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 was captured on videotape and broadcast worldwide.

The trial of four officers charged with felony assault in the beating ended after a jury with no black members acquitted three of the officers on state charges; a mistrial was declared for a fourth.

The verdict sparked one of the most costly and deadly race riots in the nation’s history.

___

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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Filed in: News, Video | Related Topics: 911 Call, CA, Cynthia Kelley, Dispatcher, Police Officers, Rialto, Rodney King, Swimming Pool
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