Hip hop producer Suge Knight and bad boy comedian Katt Williams were arrested Wednesday as part of a Beverly Hills police investigation into a September strong arm robbery of a celebrity photographer. A conviction could put repeat offender Knight in prison for up to 30 years.
Beverly Hills police Sgt. Max Subin told the
Los Angeles Times the incident happened Sept. 5, but it has taken time for the department to build its case against Knight, 49, and Williams, 43. He said the investigation is continuing.
Subin told the Times that the two are accused of chasing the photographer after coming out of a studio into an alley where Williams "forcibly" took the woman's camera. The newspaper said that the woman claims to have sustained minor injuries in the incident.
Beverly Hills police were called to the scene shortly after the incident, Subin told the Times, and had been looking for witnesses, including a man and woman who were with Knight and Williams at the time of the alleged attack.
Los Angeles County prosecutors told
People magazine that Knight, founder of Death Row Records, had a prior conviction for assault with a deadly weapon and could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted. He was arrested in Las Vegas without incident.
Williams, who was being arraigned in a Los Angeles-area courthouse for a different case, was arrested in connected with the new charges in Beverly Hills. He is facing up to seven years in prison if convicted in the incident with the photographer, noted People.
Knight's was shot at a party in West Hollywood after the MTV Video Music Awards in August and needed surgery in August,
according to TMZ.
The New York Post chronicled a series of incidents involving Williams since 2012, including a child endangerment charge and weapons charges – along with allegations that he hit an assistant, beat a young rapper over the head with a bottle and pulled a gun on comedian Faizon Love.
The comedian reportedly slapped an employee at a Target, had a meltdown at one of his routines in Oakland where he threatened to fight the audience, which led to a police chase on a three-wheeled motorcycle, wrote the Post.
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