Suge Suspected in Vibe Brawl

Wed., Dec. 1, 2004 10:30 AM PST by Josh Grossberg

It's beginning to sound like a broken record.

Marion "Suge" Knight is once again the subject of a police probe--this time to determine whether he was involved in the assault on onetime partner Dr. Dre that sparked a bloody brawl at last month's Vibe Awards.

Citing unidentified sources, the Los Angeles Times reports that investigators with the Santa Monica Police Department and probation officials are reviewing videotape of the melee and interviewing witnesses about Knight's whereabouts before, during, and after the incident to discover if he had any links to Jimmy "James" Johnson.

Johnson's the man accused of sucker-punching Dre (real name: Andre Young) as he was about to accept a lifetime achievement award, triggering pandemonium among the 1,000 people in attendance at the Nov. 16 ceremony at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica Airport.

In the ensuing chaos, Johnson was stabbed, allegedly by a protégé of Dre's, G-Unit rapper Young Buck (aka David Darnell Brown). Buck has since turned himself in to face a charge of felony assault with a deadly weapon; Johnson was hospitalized with a punctured lung.

Dre--who, despite being struck twice, managed to take the stage and accept his award once order was restored (proclaiming "They can't stop me!")--met with authorities late Monday at the Santa Monica police headquarters and pressed them to charge Johnson with assault and battery.

Investigators began focusing on Knight immediately. He entered the Vibe Awards without an invitation and managed to secure a seat just a few feet behind Dre. Considering the bad blood between him and Dre, reporters also swarmed Knight following the fracas. "I did my five years and I wouldn't do anything to have to go back [to prison]," Knight said at the time.

The rap heavyweight cofounded Death Row Records (now Tha Row Records) with Dr. Dre more than a decade ago and made millions of dollars producing hits for the likes of Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur. But Knight and Dre had a huge falling out in the mid-1990's.

While Dre went on to form his own label, Aftermath Records, and scored monster hits with albums by Eminem and 50 Cent, Knight's label floundered as he served five years in prison for violating his probation on assault and weapons charges.

When Knight was finally released in 2001, Dre obtained a restraining order against Knight.

Given Knight's lengthy rap sheet and ongoing feud with Dre, it's no shock that he's a suspect.

"We are conducting an investigation to determine whether any parole violations took place [with Knight] at the awards show," Alfred Martinez, Los Angeles regional parole administrator for the state corrections department, told the Times. "Mr. Knight has some special conditions attached to his parole, and we are working with the Santa Monica police to evaluate all the circumstances that took place that evening."

Neither Dre nor Knight could be reached for comment Wednesday. But Johnson's attorney, Milton Grimes, who also used to represent Suge, rejected allegations that the rap boss may have been in cahoots with his client.

"I don't know of any connection between Suge Knight and Johnson," Grimes told E! Online. "I have not talked to Suge in a couple of years."

Grimes said that Johnson is currently "in custody on an allegation of a parole violation," though the attorney could not confirm whether the violation stemmed from the awards show scuffle, since prosecutors have yet to hold a hearing.