VIDEO: Rap Legend Suge Knight Arrested For Assault With Deadly Weapon; Read Police Report
May 20 2010, Published 10:30 a.m. ET
Marion "Suge" Knight, the legendary co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records, was arrested early Thursday in Gardena, California on a felony charge of committing assault with a deadly weapon, RadarOnline.com has learned.
EXCLUSIVE DOCUMENT: Read Police Report
Los Angeles police said an unidentified person called Gardena police at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday to report that they had witnessed Knight, 45, pulling a gun on a man in a public place.
California Highway Patrol officers, responding to the call, pulled over Knight in a white Cadillac Escalade on Crenshaw Blvd. and 147th St. in Gardena at around midnight on Thursday.
Knight was then taken into custody on the assault charge, booked at the LAPD's Southwest station and turned over to detectives, who are in the process of questioning him. Knight, also charged with driving on a suspended license, remained in custody Thursday on $65,000 bail.
Knight's record label, Death Row Records, rose to dominate the rap charts after Dr. Dre's breakthrough album The Chronic in 1992. After several years of chart successes for artists including Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound, the label struggled after Knight's incarceration on parole violation charges in September 1996.
PHOTO: Leif’s Mug Shot! Former 70s Heartthrob Arrested On Drug Charges
In 1997, he was sentenced to nine years for the violation. He was released in 2001, but in 2003, he was sent to jail again for violating parole when he struck a parking lot attendant. Death Row Record's income rapidly fell due to Knight's imprisonment. It managed to save itself from complete bankruptcy by releasing archived SnoopDogg compilation albums and posthumous Tupac albums. Despite signing new artists, Suge has never released any of their albums.