(CNN) -- The beating of Rodney King 20 years ago Thursday marked the end of a 100-mph car chase and the beginning of a chain of events that would forever change Los Angeles, its police department and the racial conversation in the United States. King, then a 25-year-old convicted robber on parole, admittedly had a few drinks under his belt as he headed home from a friend's house. When he spotted a police car following him, he panicked, thinking he would be sent back to prison. So he took off. "I had a job to go to that Monday, and I knew I was on parole, and I knew I wasn't supposed to be drinking, and I'm like, 'Oh my God,' " King told CNN in a recent interview.
@highlight
It has been 20 years since the police beating of Rodney King
@highlight
There were riots after none of the cops involved were criminally charged
@highlight
Today, King has moved on with his life: He's a grandfather, and he's engaged to a juror
@highlight
CNN's "Race and Rage" airs Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. ET
At last, blacks in @placeholder -- and no doubt in other parts of the country -- had evidence to document the police brutality many had known but most of America had always denied or tolerated.