Kanye West Faces Jail Time Over Scuffle With Paparazzi

Kanye West faces up to two and a half years in jail following a scuffle with paparazzi. The rapper was formally handed misdemeanor charges of vandalism, battery and grand theft yesterday for the scuffle at Los Angeles airport on September 11 last year.

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Kanye's road manager Don Crawley faces the same charges, but two counts of each. The prosecuting Los Angeles attorney's office issued a statement, saying Kanye and Crawley "confronted, and engaged in an altercation with, two photographers."

Video footage of the altercation shows Kanye, 31, and Crawley, 33, pulling a camera away from a photographer and smashing it on the ground. Crawley is alleged to have also smashed a second photographer's camera. The hip-hop star was arrested before he could board his flight.

On his blog the next day he wrote: "I'm cool with the paparazzi. This guy wasn't cool. I gotta work now, I'll rant later!"

Prosecutors say the incident resulted in minor injuries to one of the photographers. The smashed equipment was valued at around $10,000 at the time.

Kanye was arrested again later in the year in Newcastle, England, after he clashed with another paparazzo, but was released without charge.

Kanye - who was represented by his lawyer Blair Berk for the hearing yesterday - is due in court on April 14.