Nelly might want to put his security team on a short leash.
The St. Louis rapper has agreed to pay $20,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a photographer who accused Nelly's bodyguard of working him over up during a concert in Bridgeport, Connecticut last year, according to the plaintiff's attorney, Mark Arons.
The suit, filed in Bridgeport Superior Court by Jerry Livingson, alleged an overzealous security guard in the hip-hopster's crew by the name of Brian Jones dragged the shutterbug to the side of the stage during an Apr. 12, 2005 show. Livingston had been credentialed to cover the concert; apparently Jones began pummeling Livingston because the security guard thought Livingston was illegally videotaping Nelly's performance. The confrontation left Livingston with a strained knee as well as neck and back pain.
According to Arons, before the case could go to civil trial, the "Hot in Herre" hitmaker opted for the settlement so long as he didn't have to admit any wrongdoing.
"It's not an admission of liability, but I don't think there's any question that my client got roughed up, because the police witnessed it," Arons tells E! Online. "When the cops arrived, Brian Jones was standing over my client, who was on the floor...Fortunately, he wasn't all that badly injured."
Nelly's publicist, Juliette Harris, was unavailable for comment Friday evening.
Arons said the bodyguard mistakenly assumed Livingston's digital still camera could record video.
"My client's not a small guy himself," the attorney continues. "The next thing he knew he was up in the air."
Livingston also has suits pending against the city of Bridgeport, the Arena at Harbor Yard and its management company. "The strange thing is the security people in the arena just shrugged their shoulders and said Nelly's people are in charge," Arons says, explaining why he's still pursuing the action against the other defendants.
According to Arons, this isn't the first scrap involving Jones and a member of the press.
The attorney says he was contacted by a colleague in Reno, Nevada, who filed a similar lawsuit last year on behalf of a reporter named Jean-Paul Burden.
The suit claimed the tussle occurred last August at Reno's Hilton Hotel. Per the suit, Burton was issued appropriate credentials for backstage videotaping and even introduced to Nelly's manager. But while the rapper was whooping it up onstage, Jones allegedly accosted Burden backstage and demanded his camera and film. Burden tried to explain who he was but to no avail.
"[Jones] grabbed the plaintiff, threw him to the ground and dropped his weight on him," the complaint says. "Within seconds, the bodyguard attacked Mr. Burden again and at least three other men [from nelly's enoutage] joined in. They then took his camera and film."
In other Nelly news, the Grammy-winning artist has been working on a reality series that will chronicle his day-to-day-life on the road, running and hyping his various business and charity ventures, including Pimp Juice and his signature line of Reeboks, as well as the nonprofit 4 Sho 4 Kids aiding underprivileged and developmentally disabled children in his native Missouri.
For his charity work, Nelly was honored with the Russell Simmons' Action Award in a ceremony in New York last November.