JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Juvenile has been cleared in a lawsuit claiming the rapper was responsible for an off-duty police officer injuring her knee while trying to break up a mall fight involving the rapper in 1999.
Following a weeklong trial, a six-member jury ruled in favor of the New Orleans-based rapper Thursday.
"We got them, we got them, we got them," said the rapper, whose real name is Terius Gray. "Just the fact that it's a rap artist against the police, that never happens. Rappers never win. We never win against the police or the government."
Fred Abbott, an attorney for the officer, Melissa Huxley-Bujeda, said he will file a motion for a new trial or an appeal.
"It was a travesty of justice," Abbott said. "One day justice will prevail."
The rapper and some friends were asked to leave Regency Square mall July 23, 1999, because their dress and language were in violation of mall policies, according to the lawsuit. When the group began using profanity, Huxley-Bujeda was called to issue a trespass warning. A scuffle broke out and Huxley-Bujeda said she injured her knee while trying to control Juvenile.
The rapper was arrested on charges of breach of the peace and resisting an officer with violence. The charges were later dropped.
Huxley-Bujeda filed the lawsuit four years later claiming she has had four surgeries and racked up $68,635 in medical bills. Juvenile's attorneys said Huxley-Bujeda suffered from degenerative arthritis and had hurt her knees about 35 times as a child from sports.
Abbott said her prior injuries were to her right knee and the basis of the lawsuit was her left knee.
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