The attack on Dave Chappelle at Hollywood Bowl didn't constitute a felony, LA DA says.
Dave Chappelle wants Hollywood Bowl attacker to face felony charges
After last week news that his attacker would only be charged with a misdemeanor, Dave Chappelle and his lawyer are urging the Los Angeles County District Attorney to rethink his decision.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Chappelle’s attacker, who has been identified as Isaiah Lee, will not be charged with assault with a deadly weapon because prosecutors determined the comedian wasn’t assaulted with the deadly weapon, which has been described by LAPD as a “replica handgun with a knife blade inside,” as it remained in his bag at the time of the incident.
The attacker, Isaiah Lee, pled not guilty to “misdemeanor battery, misdemeanor possession of a deadly weapon with intent to assault and two violations related to storming the stage and interfering with a performance.”
Chappelle and his lawyer, Gabriel Colwell, wants the city of Los Angeles to come down harder to ensure the safety of entertainers while performing, Variety reports on Tuesday.
“We request that DA [George] Gascón reconsider, correct this mistake and charge this as a felony,” said Colwell. “Entertainers in Los Angeles need to know that the justice system will protect them on stage.”
On Tuesday night (May 3) an audience member — who was later identified as 23-year-old Isaiah Lee — rushed Chapelle, 48, onstage during his set and attacked him. Lee was carrying a replica of a handgun that had a knife inside of it during the incident.
While the weapon was never used, it was later determined that Lee possessed a replica gun that had the ability to eject a knife blade.
Because the comedian was not physically injured during the attack, the DA came to the conclusion that Lee’s “behavior under the California law did not, and I repeat, did not amount to felony conduct.”
During the investigation, the DA also checked to see if Lee had been stalking Chappelle, but there was no evidence to prove that he was.
“We have city prosecutors that handle misdemeanors, they have the jurisdiction,” said Gascón during a speech on Tuesday (May 10). “Mr. Chappelle’s case was reviewed by one of our deputies in our filing team and she made the right decision when she determined that the conduct in this particular case was misdemeanor conduct.”
Several event-goers captured video of the attack, which made the rounds on social media.
Footage of the incident was captured on video, which shows the man lunging at Dave:
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