Kanye West charged with assault & vandalism after airport incident

Kanye West has been charged with theft, vandalism and assault after an incident at Los Angeles International Airport last autumn.

Kanye was on his way to catch a flight at the airport last September when paparazzi photographers began to call to him and take his picture. Kanye and his manager Don Crawley were then filmed taking a still camera off a photographer and smashing it on the ground.

He was initially arrested on a felony-level vandalism charge because of the value of the equipment but that has been now reduced to a misdemeanor after the value of the camera was reassessed.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office said yesterday: “We believe Mr West was the individualresponsible for grabbing and throwing down the flash accessory to the still camera.

“In wrestling it away [from the photographer], that’s where the battery charge comes from. It took place at the airport. Any incident at the airport we take very seriously. In this case, we felt the circumstances warranted filing charges.”

The misdemeanor charges means Kanye will not be required to attend the arraignment next month but he faces up to two and a half year in jail if convicted of all the charges.

Crawley, Kanye’s road manager, was charged with two counts each of misdemeanor vandalism, theft and battery.