The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed that it is investigating disgraced rapper-turned-politician Kanye West (Ye) for alleged battery after the office received a complaint about a confrontation between the rapper and a woman on Friday.
During the incident, which was captured on video, an irate Ye is seen snatching a woman’s cell phone from her hands as she photographed him from inside her car and then hurling it into the street.
The unidentified woman and West, who had been traveling in his car, were both stopped at a stoplight in Newbury Park in southern California when the rapper approached the woman’s vehicle.
“Y’all ain’t gonna run up on me like that. If I say stop” Ye can be heard telling the woman through the car window.
“I wasn’t running,” she answers.
She continued to hold her phone up and photographed West as he demanded, “Stop with your cameras.”
“I know, but, Kanye, you’re a celebrity,” she said. Before she could finish her sentence, West yanked the phone from her hands and smashed it on the street.
He then returned to his SUV and drove off.
— Média French Rap 🇺🇸 (@Media_FrenchRap) January 28, 2023
Responses from social media users were split, with some saying fans should leave him alone, and others saying people are free to photograph whom they please.