LOS ANGELES - Rodney King, the black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers led to some of the nation's most destructive race riots, has died at age 47.

Police say Rodney King's fiance heard a splash and went outside to find him at the bottom of the pool.

He had been talking to her through an open door, and had been poolside through the early morning on Sunday.

Police in Rialto, Calif. responded and found him in the pool.

The 47-year-old King was declared dead at a hospital early Sunday.

Police Capt. Randy De Anda says there were no signs of paraphernalia or alcoholic beverages and no obvious signs of trauma.

King was stopped for speeding in March 1991 by four officers who hit him more than 50 times, kicked him and shot him with stun guns.

A bystander videotaped the beating.