DaBaby has been hit with felony battery charges stemming from an alleged beating during a music video shoot last year.
TMZ reports property manager Gary Pagar has filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina rapper, claiming he sustained serious injuries from trying to shut down a video shoot at his rental property.
Last December, DaBaby rented Pagar’s Los Angeles mansion for one week to shoot a music video. Pagar alleges that the rapper agreed to keep the number of guests to 12 during his stay. While visiting his property on Dec. 2, Pagar found upwards of 40 people at the residence, which violated their lease agreement.
As seen in a video obtained by TMZ, Pagar was assaulted while trying to resolve the situation, as a member of DaBaby’s crew shoved him to the ground. The rapper allegedly then punched Pagar in the mouth, knocking out his tooth.
Subsequently, another man named Thankgod Awute participated in the beating, before stealing Pagar’s phone to prevent him from calling the cops. Awute has been charged with felony robbery.
The news arrives just days after new footage of DaBaby’s fatal shooting of a 19-year-old at a North Carolina Walmart surfaced, contradicting his self-defense claim.
Per TMZ, the rapper’s lawyers denied that the Rolling Stone-published surveillance footage, which was previously unseen, contradicts his self-defense narrative. Drew Findling, and Marissa Goldberg, who both represent DaBaby, said the footage of the shooting was reviewed by prosecutors back in 2018. They concluded that DaBaby did act in self-defense.
“Witnesses were interviewed and corroborated Mr. Kirk’s statement,” the rapper’s legal team told the outlet. “The entirety of the surveillance video was viewed and determined to corroborate Mr. Kirk’s statement … Mr. Kirk was protecting himself and his family at the time of the shooting.”
