Post by Emerald City on Nov 21, 2004 17:49:24 GMT -5
By Charlie Amter
Young Buck is aging fast this week.
The G-Unit rapper turned himself in to Santa Monica cops Friday for charges stemming from a knife attack at Monday night's Vibe Music Awards.
Santa Monica Police Lieutenant Frank Fabrega said Buck surrendered about 1 p.m.
Accompanied by his attorney, who had choreographed the surrender, the 23-year-old Buck, whose real name is David Darnell Brown, entered the police station, where he was booked and processed before posting $500,000 bail. The rapper then left the station. "I would say that he was done with the entire process within about two hours," Fabrega said.
Reporters encamped outside the police station near City Hall were hoping for a statement from Buck. Instead, they were treated to Buck's West Coast legal rep, Roger Rosen, plugging Buck's upcoming concert dates.
"We are not going to discuss any facts of the case today except to make one statement: Pictures may be deceiving, and we will leave it at that."
Rosen was referring to video taken during a Vibe Awards ceremony gone mad with violence. The footage purportedly shows Buck and two other men flashing knives at Jimmy James Johnson, who moments earlier sucker-punched Dr. Dre. The other two suspects have not been publicly identified and remain at large.
Although Buck might argue that, as a G-Unit posse member, he was defending mentor and label boss Dre in the attack, police charged the rapper with assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder. The cops say the video shows the Nashville-born Buck lunging at Johnson.
The 26-year-old Johnson, a parolee whose motive for striking Dre remains unclear, suffered a collapsed lung from the stabbing. He is hospitalized in stable condition and likely will face an assault charge once he recovers.
After the hearing, Rosen told E! Online that Buck is "very eager to clear his name, and he's very scared...This is a very serious matter...One of the charges is attempted murder, which could land him in jail for 25 years."
Buck is due back in court for arraignment on Dec. 20, where, per Rosen, the rapper will plead innocent to the attack.
"We don't believe he is criminally responsible for this act," said Rosen.
The free on bail hip-hop star will perform a concert in Birmingham, Alabama Sunday.
