Dueling narratives surround ‘Suge’ Knight in deadly run-in

This image from video shows Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight, right, walking into the Los Angeles County Sheriffs department early Friday morning Jan. 30, 2015 in connection with a hit-and-run incident that left one man dead and another injured. (AP Photo/OnSceneVideo via AP Television) This image from video shows Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight, right, walking into the Los Angeles County Sheriffs department early Friday morning Jan. 30, 2015 in connection with a hit-and-run incident that left one man dead and another injured. (AP Photo/OnSceneVideo via AP Television)

By Associated Press January 31, 2015 5 min read

LOS ANGELES (AP) – As Marion “Suge” Knight sat jailed on suspicion of murder, dueling narratives cast him as attacker and victim in the hip-hop music mogul’s latest and most serious run-in with the law.

Sheriff’s deputies 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.

He turned himself in and was booked on Friday.

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, who had been a member of the legendary group N.W.A. The label also launched the career of Snoop Dogg and had Tupac Shakur in the last months of his life.