Flipmode Squad leader
Busta Rhymes will be the subject of a civil lawsuit to be filed this week by a
man who said Rhymes assaulted him on Aug. 12.The
incident occurred after Robert Lebron accidentally spit on the vehicle the lyricist
was riding in."Me
and my friends were walking across the street. I spit on the street and it landed
on a moving car. It was a Maybach. That car stopped, along with two black SUVs,"
the 19-year-old told The New York Times. Soon
Lebron came face to face with Rhymes. "He
asked me, ‘Homie, did you spit on my car?’ I said ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to. We’re
big fans of yours.’ That was the last thing I said," Lebron alleges.After
he fell to the ground upon being hit in the face by a member of Busta Rhymes’
entourage, Lebron recalled the rapper coming over to "finish the job."
"While
I was on the ground, he was kicking me in the face," Lebron said. "I
saw him kick me."Lebron,
a former John Jay College of Criminal Justice student, revealed he was kicked
and punched by Rhymes and his entourage in the middle of Sixth Avenue near 19th
Street. The
group later yanked his Nike sneaker off his feet and tossed them away before leaving
the scene after about two minutes.Lebron,
who suffered a concussion and a split lip, filed a formal criminal complaint on
Saturday (Aug. 19). Later, authorities arrested Rhymes after his concert at Randalls
Island.The
rapper was arraigned Sunday (Aug. 20) on misdemeanor assault and weapons charges.The
incident is the latest brush Busta Rhymes has had with police.While
being held for the alleged assault, Rhymes, 34, was questioned about the still-unsolved
murder of his bodyguard, Israel Ramirez. Authorities
believe the rapper was standing next to Ramirez and witnessed the killing, which
occurred in February at a music-video shoot in Brooklyn.Despite
having him in custody, investigators were unable to get anything out of Rhymes,
who refused to answer questions. Nearly 100 interviews with potential witnesses
have been conducted since the investigation began, deputy police commissioner
Paul J. Browne said. "No
one has come forward as an eyewitness," said Browne, who believes a change
of heart from Rhymes could prompt others to come forward. "Some have acknowledged
being there but didn’t see anything."One
option for authorities would be to subpoena Busta Rhymes. Although
it is possible to subpoena an uncooperative witness to testify, Kenneth M. Taub,
a prosecutor in the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, said the practice was
rare because the witness would then have immunity from prosecution.