It looked like Suge Knight would be charged with manslaughter after running over and killing a friend as he fled an altercation on Thursday. Instead, he is being charged with murder.
The 49-year old turned himself into the authorities early this morning on the murder charge. The police now say Knight was involved in two fights. One was with two men on the Compton set of a promotional shoot for the upcoming NWA biopic. Knight then followed the men to a nearby fast food restaurant and that's when he ran over and killed Terry Carter and injured two other people.
Witnesses at the fast food restaurant say Knight was deliberating trying to strike the men he had previously been fighting with with his truck, and report that Knight backed over the men he hit twice.
"The people we talked to say it looked like it was an intentional act," said Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. John Corina.
According to the initial reports, Carter was Suge Knight's friend and had arrived on the scene with him. Carter may have been attempting to get back into Knight's truck and was an unintended victim of Knight trying to run over the men he had been fighting with. Bail has been set at $2 million.
This is Knight's lawyer's take on the situation:
"We are confident that once the investigation is completed, [Knight] will be totally exonerated," James Blatt said. "He was in the process of being physically assaulted by two men and in an effort to escape he unfortunately hit two [other] individuals. He was in his car trying to escape."Obviously, the details are still sketchy. Knight, for all that he's probably done, has been pretty blessed legally. Is that streak about to come to an end?