Sean "Diddy" Combs has defended himself against accusations he assaulted a man at a post-Oscars party last year (2007) - by insisting the alleged victim ran into his "stationary open hand".
The rap mogul stands accused of punching Gerard Rechnitzer in the jaw after the 27-year-old objected to Combs’ attempts to woo his fiancée at a Roosevelt Hotel party in Hollywood in February 2007.
Last month (January, 2008), four people came forward with eyewitness accounts backing Rechnitzer’s claims.
But in legal papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Combs argues that all he did was try to protect himself from Rechnitzer, who is seeking unspecified damages in a lawsuit filed in March 2007.
Combs’ documents, obtained by website TMZ.com, read: "(Rechnitzer) continued moving toward me and, without warning, lunged at me.
"Instinctively, I outstretched one of my hands, which hand was not closed-fisted (sic), to shield myself…Any contact between Mr. Rechnitzer and myself was caused by his forward motion against my stationary open hand."
Source: World Entertainment News Network
The rap mogul stands accused of punching Gerard Rechnitzer in the jaw after the 27-year-old objected to Combs’ attempts to woo his fiancée at a Roosevelt Hotel party in Hollywood in February 2007.
Last month (January, 2008), four people came forward with eyewitness accounts backing Rechnitzer’s claims.
But in legal papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Combs argues that all he did was try to protect himself from Rechnitzer, who is seeking unspecified damages in a lawsuit filed in March 2007.
Combs’ documents, obtained by website TMZ.com, read: "(Rechnitzer) continued moving toward me and, without warning, lunged at me.
"Instinctively, I outstretched one of my hands, which hand was not closed-fisted (sic), to shield myself…Any contact between Mr. Rechnitzer and myself was caused by his forward motion against my stationary open hand."
Source: World Entertainment News Network
