Rodney King, whose beating in 1991 by four white Los Angeles police officers sparked riots in which dozens died and blocks of the city were torched, is to marry a member of the jury that awarded him $3.8m (£2.5m) compensation.

According to the Radar online magazine, King proposed to Cynthia Kelley after phoning her on impulse four months ago – years after they last met.

The couple, both then married to other people, shared a pizza the day after the compensation case when King sued the city of Los Angeles in 1994. The vicious beating had shocked America, exposing the racism of a police force which at the time had no black senior officers. Kelley was juror number five, the only black member of the jury, and argued passionately that King deserved appropriate compensation for the assault. After the case she recalled: "The other jurors said, 'Let's just award him $100,000, you know he's just gonna blow it anyway.'"

King used some of the money to start a hip-hop record label. He and Kelley began a relationship, but drifted apart. King never forgot her, and a few months ago he phoned to ask Kelley whether by any chance she was still single. She was.

The incident which changed his life happened after a night drinking and watching basketball on television with friends. His car was spotted travelling over the speed limit by a police patrol. A high speed chase followed, eventually joined by several police cars and a helicopter, through the San Fernando valley, ending when King stopped at a traffic light. He was repeatedly beaten with clubs, kicked and punched by the four officers as he lay on the road. Other officers made no attempt to intervene as onlookers begged them to stop. The whole episode was captured on video by an amateur cameraman from the balcony of his apartment, and horrified the American public when it was televised.

When the following year all four police officers were acquitted the city erupted. In six nights of rioting 53 people died, thousands were injured, almost 4,000 fires were reported, more than 1,000 buildings were destroyed and, as the violence spread to other towns, the damage to property was estimated at over $1bn. A white truck driver, Reginald Oliver Denny, was dragged from his cab by a mob and beaten savagely, filmed by press helicopters overhead. He was eventually saved by a black man who saw the incident on television and drove to the scene to rescue him.

In a tearful television interview during the riots, King pleaded: "Can't we all just get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids?"

Bill Cosby also joined the appeals for calm, appearing on television to urge people to stop the violence – and instead watch the last episode of The Cosby Show.

King is now a grandfather with three grown up children and lives in a modest house in the small town of Rialto, near Los Angeles. In the years since the assault he has battled alcoholism, and appeared in 2008 in a reality television series following his progress in a rehab clinic, and in a later follow up programme. In an interview last year he said: "My life is finally at a resting point."

This week he described Kelley to Radar as "a godsend, a blessing in my life".

She said: "We hadn't spoken to each other for many years, and it just so happened that we reconnected. It was like we were never apart from one another."

A friend told NBC Los Angeles that King would not give interviews until he had set a wedding date, but it would be soon.