Kanye West facing jail

Thursday, 19 March 2009

Kanye West faces up to two and a half years in jail following a scuffle with paparazzi.

The rapper was formally handed misdemeanour charges of vandalism, battery and grand theft yesterday (18.03.09) for the scuffle at Los Angeles airport on September 11 last year.

Kanye's road manager Don Crawley faces the same charges, but two counts of each.

The prosecuting Los Angeles attorney's office issued a statement, saying Kanye and Crawley "confronted, and engaged in an altercation with, two photographers".

Video footage of the altercation shows Kanye, 31, and Crawley, 33, pulling a camera away from a photographer and smashing it on the ground. Crawley is alleged to have also smashed a second photographer's camera. The hip-hop star was arrested before he could board his flight.

On his blog the next day he wrote: "I'm cool with the paparazzi. This guy wasn't cool. I gotta work now, I'll rant later!"

Prosecutors say the incident resulted in minor injuries to one of the photographers. The smashed equipment was valued at around $10,000 at the time.

Kanye was arrested again later in the year in Newcastle, England, after he clashed with another paparazzo, but was released without charge.

Kanye - who was represented by his lawyer Blair Berk for the hearing yesterday - is due in court on April 14.