LOS ANGELES (June 30, 2012)--The Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders will join family and friends Saturday in Los Angeles at a public funeral service for Rodney King whose videotaped beating was the catalyst for some of the nation’s worst race riots.

Sharpton, who said in a statement that King was "a symbol of civil rights" who "represented the anti-police brutality and anti-racial profiling movement of our time," delivers the eulogy Saturday at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

The funeral comes nearly two weeks after King was found dead at the bottom of the swimming pool at his Rialto, Calif. home on June 17.

He was 47.

King's death is considered an accidental drowning, but authorities are awaiting autopsy results to determine the official cause of death.

King became famous after his beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 was captured on videotape and broadcast worldwide.

The acquittal of the officers involved sparked race riots across the country.