LAPD Chief During 1992 Riots Dead at 83

Daryl F. Gates, Los Angeles police chief during the city's deadly 1992 riots, has died. He was 83 and had bladder cancer. A tart-tongued career cop with a short fuse and a penchant for making controversial statements, Gates had been a flashpoint for controversy long before the riots that broke out after four white police officers were acquitted of most charges in the beating of black motorist Rodney King.

Gates was also responsible for numerous police department successes that were overlooked after he was forced into early retirement after the riots. He was credited with developing the policing plan that brought off the 1984 Summer Olympics with not so much as a traffic jam, let alone serious criminal disturbances. He also created the department's popular Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, program for youth. (More Daryl Gates stories.)