Currently, former Death Row Records label-head Suge Knight is serving a 28-year prison sentence at RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. Though he’d had plenty of run-ins with the law during his decades-long career as a hip-hop executive, including being the driver of the car that Tupac was shot and killed in, in 1996, Knight’s 2015 incident that landed him behind bars was probably the most ironic crime he’s ever committed.
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In January 2015, seven months before the now-beloved N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, hit theaters, the movie was still being filmed at Tam’s Burgers in Compton, California. At the time, Knight had reportedly found out that he was going to be portrayed in the movie in a negative light. So, he decided to pay a visit to Dr. Dre on set, who was a former client of his at Death Row until 1996 and was helping out with the movie alongside Ice Cube and all the other surviving members of N.W.A.
On top of this reasoning, Knight was also hoping to confront Dre about his relationship with the man who was suspected of shooting Knight seven times at a party hosted by Chris Brown the year before. However, upon arriving at Tam’s, Knight was instead met by security, who tried to get him removed from the premises.
After briefly coming to fisticuffs with security, Knight hopped back into his car and began to reverse. Directly in his path, though, was Che Sloan, an actor in movies like Training Day and End of Watch who was working security for the movie at the time, and Terry Carter, a friend of Knight’s who was well-respected in Compton and also happened to own Tam’s. Running them both over, Sloan would end up sustaining injuries that he would eventually recover from, while Carter lost his life.
Knight would eventually turn himself in to police and would be pursued for murder charges. However, entering a plea deal for voluntary manslaughter instead in 2018, Knight would earn himself a 28-year sentence, with no option of parole until 2034.
Additionally, when Straight Outta Compton finally came out in August 2015, Knight’s suspicions came true, as the movie included a scene of Knight’s character pistol-whipping a man in a parking lot for stealing his parking spot, on top of other needlessly aggressive behavior.
When testifying over a phone call from his prison cell last June, Knight alleged that Cube invited him to the set the day he killed Carter. But then, when he showed up, he did not feel welcomed at all, as Sloan’s hostile demeanor made him “fear for his life.” He claims he got in his car and drove into Sloan and Carter in self-defense.
Watch the censored video below that includes footage from Knight’s confrontation with the Straight Outta Compton crew.
Photo by Steve Grayson/WireImage
