[Updated at 11:46 a.m.] Daryl Gates, former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, has died at the age of 83 after a battled bladder cancer, the LAPD said.

Gates was the city's top cop from 1978 through 1992, when he resigned in the wake of the turmoil from the 1991 Rodney King police beating and the riots that followed.

His 14 years as chief was a time of change, growth and turmoil in Los Angeles, as the city passed Chicago to become the nation's second largest.

His reputation was tarnished by racial gaffes, including one highly-publicized remark when he defended officers' use of carotid chokehold that sometimes led to injuries or death.

Gates suggested that blacks had arteries that "do not open up as fast as on normal people." He later said he intended "normal" to mean all healthy people.

His department was credited with keeping the 1984 Summer Olympics safe, while not imposing an impressive police presence.

A native of the Los Angeles area, Gates joined the LAPD as a rookie cop in 1949.

[Posted at 10:45 a.m.] Daryl Gates, former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, has died at the age of 83.

The LAPD said Gates had battled bladder cancer.