Rapper Juvenile has been cleared in a lawsuit which claimed he was responsible for an off-duty female police officer injuring her knee while trying to break up a fight in a mall which the hip hop star was involved in seven years ago.
Following a week-long trial, the jury ruled in favour of Juvenile (real name is Terius Gray) yesterday.
Melissa Huxley-Bujeda filed the lawsuit four years later, claiming she has had for operations and notched up $68,635 in medical bills to sort out her injured leg which she sustained while trying to control Juvenile during the mall incident.
Juvenile’s lawyers argued the officer suffered from degenerative arthritis and had injured her knees over 30 times while playing sports as a child. But her lawyer asserted the previous injuries were to her right knee and the basis of the lawsuit was her left knee.
"We got them, we got them, we got them," said the rap star. "Just the fact that it's a rap artist against the police, that never happens. Rappers never win. We never win against the police or the Government."
Fred Abbott, the officer’s lawyer, said he will file a motion for a new trial or an appeal. "It was a travesty of justice," he said. "One day justice will prevail."
Juvenile was arrested on July 23, 1999, on charges of breach of the peace and resisting an officer with violence after he and some friends were asked to leave a mall because their dress and language violated mall policies. The charges were later dropped.
