APNewsBreak: Video of 'Suge' Knight Running Over 2 Released
Photo: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office/Los Angeles Superior Court via AP
by Anthony McCartney
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Video of Marion “Suge” Knight plowing into two men with his pickup truck and other key evidence in the former rap music mogul’s murder case was released Friday by a Los Angeles court.
Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen reviewed the items before determining Knight should stand trial on murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run charges. He authorized their release after a request by The Associated Press.
Among the released evidence was an hourlong interview with Cle “Bone” Sloan, who survived being run over by Knight’s truck, and photos of the Death Row Records co-founder after his arrest.
Coen ruled Thursday that there was enough evidence for Knight, 49, to stand trial on charges he killed Terry Carter and attempted to kill Sloan during a parking lot confrontation in late January.
Knight has pleaded not guilty. His attorney has said Knight was fleeing an ambush by Sloan and others when he hit the men outside a Compton burger stand.
The video played by a prosecutor in court shows Knight’s pickup truck pulling up to the driveway of the burger stand and Sloan approaching the driver’s side window.
A struggle ensues, and Sloan told detectives he repeatedly punched Knight in response to insults by the former rap mogul. Knight’s pickup is seen backing up, throwing Sloan to the ground before the truck drives over his legs and then plows over Carter.
The entire incident took approximately 30 seconds. The video, shot by a surveillance camera monitoring the drive-thru at the burger stand, continues until the arrival of a paramedic.
The footage is likely to be used by both sides during Knight’s trial.
Knight’s attorney, Matt Fletcher, has said the video appears to show an associate of Sloan’s taking a gun off of him after he is run over, and jurors likely will be shown an enhanced version of the video.
Knight turned himself in to authorities the morning after the incident. Detectives took pictures of him to try to show he did not have any serious injuries from the attack.
Sloan’s interview with detectives will also be crucial to the case since he is unlikely to repeat the lucid account of the event and his own actions that he gave investigators. In court on Monday, Sloan repeatedly said he didn’t remember the incident and refused to identify Knight as the person who injured him, saying he didn’t want to be a “snitch.”
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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
