Travis Farrell/Getty ImagesChris Brown maintains he isn't "a monster." He may be hanging around with a few scary types, however.
A photographer has sued the R&B singer for assault and battery, claiming Brown's entourage chased him after he took a picture of the star during a pickup basketball game March 13. Then one of Brown's bodyguards "picked him up by his shorts and physically assaulted him."
Shutterbug Robert Rosen is also suing LA Fitness, the gym where Brown was shooting hoops, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
According to the plaintiff, he had snapped a pic of the recently maligned artist when Brown's "associates/and or bodyguards/and or others" spotted him, yelled something and started walking toward him.
Rosen started running toward the exit to avoid a confrontation, the suit states, but Brown's people blocked the exit and grabbed him. When Rosen wrested free, he tripped going down a flight of stairs.
He sat down in a chair at the bottom of the stairs, Rosen said, after which one of the bodyguards (or miscellaneous guys) further roughed him up, leaving the paparazzo—who was yelling for LA Fitness employees to call the police and an ambulance—in "great fear for his life, health and safety."
Rosen was "severely injured and disabled, both internally and externally," the suit claims. He is asking for unspecified damages.
In addition to assault and battery, the allegations include intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, negligent hiring, premises liability and false imprisonment.
The plaintiff's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mark Geragos, who has been representing Brown in the pending Rihanna-related assault case against him, was also unavailable.
Sitrick and Co., the PR firm currently repping Brown, had no comment.
—Additional reporting by Ashley Fultz and Claudia Rosenbaum