UPDATED 8:58 p.m. ET: The alleged victim, Bennie Vines, now claims his injuries have prevented him for working, and he's gearing up to take legal action against Chris Brown.
Vines shared his side of the story in a video posted by TMZ, in which he claims Brown assaulted him for simply doing his job. The photographer said he has already consulted several lawyers, who told him he has a strong case against the artist.
Read the original story below.
While most people were fast asleep in dreaded anticipation of the upcoming work week, Chris Brown allegedly sucker punched an in-house club photographer at a Tampa, Florida joint called AJA Channelside. While it's currently just an allegation, if true, this would represent just the latest in legal problems for the 27-year-old singer.
The incident went down at roughly 1:30 a.m. on Monday morning during a paid appearance at the club. The alleged victim, 38-year-old Bennie L. Vines, claims that Brown popped him while Vines was taking crowd shots of the club. Earlier in the night/morning, Brown and his entourage said there would be no photos. Vines says that he wasn't taking pictures of Brown. Some footage of the incident, though grainy, was posted to TMZ.
One of the owners of the club, Robert Solomon, also added that Brown was only there for about 3-5 minutes even though he was paid to stick around for an hour. "It wasn't a brawl, Brown punched a photog for the club and walked out," Solomon said.
According to AJA Channelside'sFacebook page, assault charges are being pressed. Furthermore, according to the Twitter feed of Tampa's police department, Brown is under an active investigation for the alleged incident:
Brown had left the scene by the time police arrived. As reported by ABC's Tampa affiliate, Vines refused medical attention for a laceration to his lip.
