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Sean 'Diddy' Combs avoids felony rap for attacking UCLA coach

By Doug G. Ware
Producer/entrepreneur Diddy performs onstage during the 15th annual BET Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on June 28, 2015. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
Producer/entrepreneur Diddy performs onstage during the 15th annual BET Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on June 28, 2015. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

LOS ANGELES, July 2 (UPI) -- Sean "Diddy" Combs will not face a possible felony assault conviction stemming from a confrontation between the rapper and a UCLA football coach, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said Thursday.

However, the office said, it has turned over the case to the Los Angeles city attorney, ESPN reported Thursday.

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The D.A.'s office typically handles the city's serious felony cases, while the city attorney investigates lesser affairs -- meaning Combs still might face a misdemeanor charge.

Combs, 45, was arrested June 22 after supposedly confronting a UCLA coach wielding a piece of weight room equipment, ESPN reported. Combs said he was defending himself and his son, who is a player on the Bruins football team.

"The various accounts of the event and charges that are being reported are wholly inaccurate," a representatives for Combs' company said in a statement two days after the arrest. "What we can say now is that any actions taken by Mr. Combs were solely defensive in nature to protect himself and his son."

The entertainer was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, battery and making terrorist threats.

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ESPN reported that Combs has a history of violence-related arrests -- stating that he was acquitted of bribery and weapons-related charges from a 1999 shooting in New York. A jury cleared him of firing a weapon in the altercation that wounded three bystanders and bribing his chauffeur to take the rap.

He was also arrested in 1999 for assaulting a music industry executive and accused of punching a man in the face during a Super Bowl party in Arizona earlier this year, ESPN's report said.

It wasn't clear why L.A. prosecutors did not pursue felony charges, but law enforcement sources said the decision was based in part on the fact that Combs waved the kettlebell at several people and that no one was seriously injured, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

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