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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Death Row Records’ rap mogul arrested in fatal hit-and-run

This image from video shows Marion “Suge” Knight walking into the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department Friday. (Associated Press)
Tami Abdollah Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – Marion “Suge” Knight, the impresario of gangster rap, has long been a perpetrator and victim of the violent life he promoted in song.

On Friday, he was portrayed as both.

Sheriff’s deputies booked the former hip-hop music mogul on suspicion of murder after they said he hit and killed a man with his pickup truck, injured another and then fled. His lawyer said he was an innocent victim who accidentally ran over his friend and the other man as he tried to escape an attack.

The incident was the latest in a long line of brushes with death and the law for the 49-year-old founder of Death Row Records, one of the genre’s leading labels.

Knight started the label that helped solidify West Coast rap with Dr. Dre. The label also launched the career of Snoop Dogg and had Tupac Shakur in the last months of his life.

The fatal incident occurred a short while after Knight was told by deputies to leave a film location where he had argued with someone, authorities said. The cast and crew were taking a break from filming a promotional video for the biopic “Straight Outta Compton,” about the rise of N.W.A., according to a person familiar with the project.

The argument resumed and escalated a short while later at a fast-food restaurant about 2 miles away, with Knight and the man exchanging punches through his open window. Knight then struck the man and a friend with his vehicle and fled, said sheriff’s Lt. John Corina.

Terry Carter, 55, Knight’s friend who authorities do not believe was involved in the altercation, died at a hospital, Corina said. The other man was identified by his manager as Cle “Bone” Sloan, 51, an actor and film consultant. He was hospitalized in stable condition, said manager Jermaine Shelton.

Corina said Knight backed up his pickup truck and knocked Sloan down.

“Then he puts the truck in drive, drives forward, running over him, and then keeps going forward and keeps on driving, and runs over Carter, who is standing in the parking lot, and keeps on going after that,” Corina said.

He said witnesses told investigators it looked like an intentional act.

Defense attorney James Blatt said Knight was called to Tam’s Burgers in Compton for a meeting and was attacked by four people, including Sloan, as he slowed his truck. The men beat him through his window and threatened to kill him.