Injured NBA star sues NY nightclub after brawl
NEW YORK (AFP) –
NBA star Tony Parker is suing the owners of a New York nightclub after suffering an eye injury in a bottle-throwing brawl between friends of R&B singer Chris Brown and rapper Drake, the New York Post reported Friday.
Parker, who plays for the San Antonio Spurs, is demanding $20 million from the owners of the W.i.P. (Work in Progress) club in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan following the fight in the early hours of June 14, the newspaper said.
According to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Parker holds W.i.P.’s owners responsible for a “corneal laceration of the left eye and other injuries.”
His lawyer, David Jaroslawicz, told the newspaper that he did not know the full extent of Parker’s injuries but eye wounds “certainly don’t improve your outside shot.”
Parker alleges in the suit that the club owners “were reckless, careless and negligent in permitting Drake’s entourage and Brown’s entourage to be in the club at the same time despite known tension between the two.”
Drake briefly dated singer Rihanna after she broke up with Brown.
“She’s been known, like Helen of Troy, to cause trouble,” Jaroslawicz said of Rihanna.
Parker, who was at the W.i.P. with Brown, is slated to play with the French national team at the Summer Olympics. He said he has been sidelined for at least a week as he heals with the help of a “therapeutic” contact lens.
New York police, meanwhile, have shut down W.i.P. due to unspecified “code violations.”