RIALTO, Calif -
Rodney King, whose videotaped 1991 beating by Los Angeles police officers led to riots, was found dead in his swimming pool Sunday morning by his fiancee.
King's publishing representative, Suzanne Wickham, confirmed to FOX News Channel that King died Sunday. He was 47.
Police told FOX that officers responded to a call from King's fiancee at their home in Rialto, about 55 miles (88km) east of Los Angeles, at 5:25am local time. She said she found King at the bottom of their swimming pool.
King's fiancee told police she was inside the house and King was talking to her from the patio outside just before she found him in the pool, according to KABC-TV.
"She did try to save him" Rialto Police Department Capt. Randy Deanda said. "However, she is not a good swimmer and chose to dial 911 and call the police department."
Officers arrived at the scene and pulled King from the pool. He was unresponsive.
Police performed CPR until paramedics arrived and transported him to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where he was pronounced dead at 6:11am.
Police in Rialto listed drowning as the preliminary cause of death. Foul play is not suspected.
An autopsy will be conducted Sunday, according to the Rialto Police Department. A toxicology analysis will also be performed, KABC reported.
King's fiancee said he was normally a strong swimmer.
In a statement Sunday, Rev. Al Sharpton called King "a symbol of civil rights" who "represented the anti-police brutality and anti-racial profiling movement of our time."
On March 3, 1991, King was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers after a high-speed car chase, an infamous case of police brutality that was captured on camera by a bystander and broadcast around the world.
Four officers were tried for the assault but were acquitted, a decision that sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
King appeared at a press conference on the third day of the riots and famously appealed, "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?"
Sharpton said in his statement that King, "through all that he had gone through with his beating and his personal demons, he was never one to not call for reconciliation and for people to overcome and forgive."
King struggled with substance abuse after the riots and was arrested in July 2011 on suspicion of DUI.
He appeared on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab" in 2008 in an attempt to overcome his alcohol problem. He also appeared on the show's spinoff "Sober House" in 2009.
His autobiography, titled "The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption," was published in April.
