Kanye West faces legal battle as photographer files lawsuit over alleged assault and battery

Los Angeles: Rapper Kanye West finds himself entangled in a legal battle as a photographer has reportedly filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of assault, battery, and negligence. This lawsuit stems from a heated confrontation that occurred earlier this year.

The 45-year-old rapper was driving away from his daughter North West's basketball game in January with his new wife Bianca Censori when he stopped to confront several paparazzi who he noticed was on his tail, reports Mirror.co.uk.

Footage showed the star angrily going through a fellow photographer's pockets, and photographer Nichol Lechmanik claims the father-of-four came after her next.

In video footage, Kanye - who is now legally known as Ye - was being filmed by Nichol as he approached her in the driver's seat of her car while telling her, "You all ain't gonna run up on me like that! If I say stop, stop with your cameras," before taking her phone from her hands and throwing it out into the middle of the street.

Mirror.co.uk further states that the rest of the incident was captured on camera by Nichol's business partner, who was recording from her passenger seat. Nichol made her way to the Sheriff's Department the same day to file a report about the incident. While Kanye was initially named as a suspect in a battery investigation, he was not charged.

However, in the lawsuit obtained by TMZ, Nichol reportedly said that she was traumatised and humiliated following the incident and is suing due to a loss of earnings as she couldn't return to her job as a paparazzi. She is also said to want an injunction blocking Kanye from touching or harassing all photographers.
(With IANS inputs)