RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Boosie Badazz is facing a lawsuit from a Houston nightclub bouncer who claims the rapper smashed a glass hookah over his head, claiming the “severely intoxicated” artist “violently ambushed” him and left him covered in blood.
Two months after the rapper was hit with a felony charge over the alleged May incident, Edward Iglehart brought a civil case Thursday (July 23) against both Boosie (Torence Hatch) and the Dome nightclub where the attack allegedly took place.
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In a legal complaint obtained by Billboard , Iglehart shed more light on the alleged incident — claiming the club had continued serving Boosie and others “excessive quantities” of alcohol in the VIP section “despite their obvious intoxication” before the rapper “violently attacked” him from behind.
“Iglehart immediately felt a sharp, explosive pain as blood began pouring down his face,” his lawyers write. “When Iglehart looked up, he observed Mr. Hatch standing on a nearby table holding the upper portion of the broken hookah, while the top of the shattered glass base remained jagged and broken below.”
Boosie was hit with an aggravated assault charge in May over the alleged incident, in which police say the star attacked the bouncer after he refused to let the rapper’s niece use the bathroom when the Houston club had already closed.
Boosie was quickly granted release on $85,000 bond and publicly denied any wrongdoing, calling the charges against him “basically a money grab.” But the alleged fight is just the latest legal headache for the rapper — and could lead to serious repercussions.
Last year, Boosie reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors last year to resolve a long-running gun possession case, resulting in a January sentence of three years of probation. But following the new hookah-attack charges, probation supervisors said last month that his release should be revoked and he should spend a year and a half in prison. Boosie reportedly sought a pardon from President Donald Trump, but is now suing for a refund from the lobbyists to whom he paid $600,000 to secure it.
Iglehart’s new complaint adds more color to the allegations disclosed by prosecutors. He says the woman in the incident was “visibly intoxicated” when the bouncer denied her request to re-enter the club and referred her to a security officer. She then became “verbally abusive and aggressive” and struck him, he says, prompting him to grab her arm and “escort her away from the area.”
“During the escort, the heavily intoxicated woman stumbled and fell to the floor and struggled to stand back up” and the bouncer “bent down to help her” up from the floor, his lawyers say. “Seeing Iglehart bent over with his back to him, defendant Hatch acted irrationally in his highly intoxicated state and without warning violently attacked Iglehart by striking him from behind in the head with a large hookah.”
The lawsuit accuses Boosie himself of assault and battery over that attack, which he says caused “uncontrollable” bleeding and a trip to the emergency room. But the case also takes aim at the club itself (1720 Main Entities LLC), claiming it was negligent in failing to provide a safe workplace for its employee.
“The intoxicated Hatch had violently ambushed a completely sober Iglehart, who was performing his job as security for defendant 1720,” his attorneys say. “Defendant 1720 overserved Hatch and allowed him to become so intoxicated that he posed a threat to others coming into contact with him, including plaintiff.”
An attorney for Boosie did not immediately return a request for comment. A rep for the nightclub’s owners could not immediately be located for comment.
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