AP ImagesApparently Kid Rock took that whole "American Bad Ass" act too seriously.
A day after he took the stand to tell his side of the story in his Waffle House-smackdown case, a jury had found the Cocky One responsible for adminstering a serious butt-whumping on a fellow diner.
And now he'll have to pay. Big time.
Rock was ordered to pony $6,000, or 15 percent of $40,000 in compensatory damages awarded to 41-year-old Harlan Akins following an early-morning rumble that left the music promoter seriously banged up.
That judgment will go towards his medical bills, the cost which will be divvied up among Rock and a trio of his pals. Guitarist Jason Krause, who admitted in testimony that he instigated the fight by throwing the first punch, was ordered to pay $28,000, or 70 percent, while James Murphy and Brian Lang will cover the remaining $6,000.
The 11-person panel did not award Akins any punitive damages to cover his alleged pain and suffering.
It took jurors less than a day of deliberations to reach their verdict. The key piece of evidence was surveillance footage of the 2007 incident , which the panel reviewed before handing down their decision. The clip seems to show Rock (real name Robert Ritchie) and three members of his posse manhandling the plaintiff after he insulted a female friend of the music star.
Jurors also took another listen to the 911 call made by a Waffle House employee in which obsenity-strewn screaming can be heard in the background along with the sound of a chair being thrown through a window, admittedly by Rock, who claimed it was in self-defense.
The civil case comes two years after the Grammy-nominated artist pleaded guilty to a criminal charge misdemeanor battery and was sentenced to a year of probation and anger-management classes.
Both Rock and Atkins admitted to having been drinking before their showdown.
Shocking.
(Originally published Sept. 17, 2010, at 12:55 p.m. PT)
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The Kid ought to be in pictures...like our Court Appearances gallery.