While it was recently revealed that Kanye West had skated on felony assault charges for his alleged attack of a photographer at LAX, the "victim" is not giving up just yet. Civil rights attorney Gloria Allred, who will represent paparazzo Daniel Ramos, held a conference today regarding the incident.
She began by announcing that Ramos had filed a lawsuit against West earlier in the day, after describing the event from Ramos' perspective.
“Without warning or provocation, Mr. West suddenly attacked Danny, punching him and attempting to wrestle Danny’s camera from his hand,” said Allred. “Danny held onto his camera and fell down onto his knees onto the paved sidewalk with enough force that he sustained injuries to his right hip, was in great pain, and had to be transported in an ambulance to the emergency room. As a result, today we have filed a lawsuit against Kanye West in L.A. County Superior Court alleging assault, battery, negligence, and interference with Danny’s civil rights.”
Ramos then took the mic to express the "shock," terror," and "pain" West had caused him.
“When Kanye West attacked me, I was in complete shock,” said Ramos. “All I had done was asked him a question. I was terrified when Kanye started coming at me. I backed up because I felt from the look in his eyes that he was going to attack me…I was in terrible pain from the attack and I am still in pain. I spent two weeks on crutches and then I was walking with a cane for some time.”
Despite the lawsuit, West has not been prosecuted for Ramos' assault.
[Update: Kanye Charged]
According to TMZ, Kanye West has officially been charged with criminal battery and attempted grand theft over the incident at LAX in July.
While Kanye was able to evade felony assault charges, Alleged victim Daniel Ramos launched a lawsuit on 'Ye, claiming the altercation caused him considerable pain and left him hospitalized.
If convicted of both misdemeanors, Yeezy faces a maximum of one year in jail.
The rapper will be arraigned October 10th.
[Update: Kanye Claims Self Defense]
Kanye has now responded to the civil suit launched by Daniel Ramos, arguing that his actions were those of "self defense. According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ, 'Ye is arguing that he felt "his safety was in immediate danger."
The doc goes on to say that "[Kanye] responded to this assault by doing only those acts that were reasonably necessary for his self-defense."
Outside of the suit, Yeezy has been charged with criminal battery and grand theft over the incident, for which he will be arraigned October 10th.
[Update: Prosecutors To Include "Prior Bad Acts" As Evidence In Case]
According to TMZ, prosecutors in the above-mentioned case are requesting permission to include "prior bad acts" as evidence to be presented to jurors. In an article written by attorney Vincent Dicarlo for the professional legal website FindLaw, he states that "prior bad acts" can be included as evidence in California in order "to show motive, plan, intent [or] lack of mistake". His article also notes that "despite evidence… [being] extremely harmful to one party’s case does not necessarily make it prejudicial."
If the judge allows the inclusion of this evidence, video footage of Kanye’s previous scuffles with paparazzi will be displayed as proof that he has acted similarly in the past. For example, that incident in 2008 when he was arrested for a similar altercation with a photographer at LAX.
That's all for now. Best of luck to Yeezus in these trying times.