Kanye West has avoided battery charges after he threw a woman’s phone in the street for filming him without permission, according to TMZ. The January incident saw police investigating the controversial music star after footage surfaced online of Kanye accosting the woman in her car. After an argument, Kanye was seen grabbing her phone from her hand and throwing it.
However, according to TMZ, the woman declined to press charges, and the only damage done was to the phone’s case. The argument started when Kanye became upset that the paparazzi were filming him at his daughter North’s basketball game. “You didn’t have to run up on me like that,” he told her. “If I say stop, stop with your cameras!” A bystander filmed the exchange, as did the woman’s companion, sitting in the passenger seat.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office issued a press release that confirmed that Kanye wouldn’t face any charges, and that only around $30 of damage was done. So, aside from the photographer needing a new phone case, there was no harm, no foul.
Kanye’s issues with the paparazzi are well-documented, but he’s apparently been trying to stay out of the spotlight recently after stirring up a ton of controversy over the past year from making antisemitic comments.