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Attorney Matthew Fletcher told celebrity news website TMZ
that Knight, who suffers from glaucoma, did not have a clear
view of his left side and so was forced to drive forward through
the parking lot of Tam's Burgers in the Los Angeles suburb of
Compton following fisticuffs with one of the men in January.
Fletcher also told TMZ Knight may not have clearly seen Terry
Carter, 55, who was struck and killed by the Ford F-150. Cle
"Bone" Sloan, 51, who was also hit by Knight's vehicle, survived
his injuries.
The attorney said Carter had screamed something about shooting
Knight, 49, and that the music executive could not see well
enough to tell if Carter was brandishing a gun.
The remarks come one day after TMZ posted a graphic video,
apparently captured by a Tam's security camera, of Knight
running over the Carter and Sloan.
The tape appears to support a contention by prosecutors that
Knight, who had traded blows with Sloan through the driver's
side window of his truck, deliberately ran the men down as he
sped from the scene.
But Fletcher has said the videotape will help exonerate his
client because it shows Knight fleeing an ambush at the burger
shop.
The videotape appears to show that Knight could have driven left
down a side street rather than through the parking lot where
Sloan and Carter were standing, but Fletcher told the New York
Daily News in an interview published on Wednesday that his
client's vision problems made that impossible.
"How can he go left if he can’t see?" Fletcher told the paper.
"This was a literal presentation of being blindsided. He was
attacked on his blind side. To me it seems obvious. He’s being
punched in the face, he can’t see."
Knight has pleaded innocent to murder, attempted murder and
hit-and-run charges in the case. No trial date has been set.
The co-founder of influential Death Row Records has previous
convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and could face 25
years to life in prison under California's so-called
three-strikes law if he is convicted at trial.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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