The video camera that recorded Rodney King’s 1991 beating by Los Angeles police is up for auction

The Sony video camera that recorded the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles Police Department officers, a tape shown on TV stations across the nation and that sparked outrage, is going up for auction.

The beating happened just after midnight March 3, 1991, when LAPD officers struck King, then 25, more than 50 times with batons after he had led officers on a high-speed chase.

George Holliday recorded the beating from his apartment balcony and called the LAPD, but they weren’t helpful, according to the auction house, Nate D. Sanders Auctions. So Holliday then called a local news station, KTLA, which later aired the footage.

The footage was one of the first examples of a viral video showing police violence against Black people.

In April 1992, when the four White officers indicted in the beating were acquitted, massive protests broke out in South Central Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles riots lasted five days and left more than 50 people dead.

Holliday’s Sony Video8 Handycam CCD-F77 was returned to him by the FBI only in 2015. It’s being auctioned on Thursday, with bidding set to begin at $225,000.

“I hope this video camera inspires people to use their power to record events that they find troubling. Don’t be afraid to use it,” Holliday said in a statement.

Though the camera no longer works, it does come with its original power adapter and a battery case.