George Holliday, man who filmed Rodney King beating, dies of Covid-19

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Holliday died of Covid-19 in Simi Valley, California on Sunday, according to his longtime friend Robert Wollenweber.

“Unfortunately, he didn’t want to be vaccinated. He wanted to catch the Covid so that he could boost his immunities and his wish came true about a month ago,” Wollenweber said in a telephone interview with CNN. “He got sicker and sicker and had trouble breathing, so they finally took him to the hospital. When his oxygen levels went down, they put him on a ventilator. And then he got it. pneumonia and his kidneys would stop and he had a bleeding, and then he died on Sunday.

Wollenweber says he met Holliday in 1996 while they were working at the same plumbing company.

They last saw each other about a month ago, before Holliday entered hospital, he said.

Wollenweber doesn’t know how Holliday caught Covid-19, but believes their work exposed it.

“We were both plumbers and we go to people’s houses every day, so I guess he picked it up from one of his clients,” Wollenweber said.

Wollenweber says the Rodney King video changed Holliday’s life.

“It’s sad because the video brought him a lot of bad luck,” Wollenweber said. “He was a badass, you know, like all of us.”

Holliday shot the video in the early morning hours of March 3, 1991, from his apartment balcony. The video was seen on televisions around the world and was a key piece of evidence in the trial of four LAPD officers, who were acquitted of all charges related to the beatings.

The acquittal of April 29, 1992 sparked riots in Los Angeles.

Two of the officers, Sergeant Stacey Koon and Officer Laurence Michael Powell, were convicted in 1993 of violating King’s civil rights.

Rodney King died in 2012.

Holliday holds the video camera he used to film Rodney King's beating after a press conference in 1991.

King’s daughter and Rodney King Foundation CEO Lora Dene King expressed her appreciation for Holliday in a statement to CNN.

“The King family will be forever grateful to George Holliday who had the courage and conviction to hold the LAPD responsible for the brutal beating of my father, Rodney. Our condolences go out to his family and friends,” a- she declared.

“He was a great guy, he was fair and he led a clean life, he didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke,” Wollenweber said of Holliday. “He believed in God and it’s just too bad this Covid took him.”

CNN has asked for comment from Holliday’s brother Peter, who is also in the plumbing business. However, an outgoing message said he was unavailable and will spend the week in mourning.

Wollenweber says Holliday is survived by his wife and a son from a previous relationship.

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