Suge Knight's Alleged Hit & Run Was Caught On Tape

A video that is not for the faint of heart is circulating on the Internet, one that proclaims to feature Suge Knight's fatal alleged hit and run that led to a murder charge for the rapper. The incident occurred on the set of his film Straight Outta Compton, and he has since pled not guilty to the charges. However, his plea might be complicated by the TMZ video of the hit and run — which shows Knight being confronted by Cle "Bone" Sloan and then running over him and Terry Carter moments later. While Sloan survived the incident, Carter did not. According to TMZ, it is Carter's family that asked them to share the video.

"The Carter family is pleased you are releasing the video," said the Carter family lawyer, Gary Dordick, in a statement to TMZ. "So the public can see what actually occurred and not be forced to speculate based on third party descriptions of the video." Knight's initial claim was that he was trying to escape the lot out of fear of being killed, which was paired with a claim that Sloan and Carter both had guns. After the hit and run, the video shows an anonymous fourth man approaching Sloan's prone body to remove something and then place it in his waistband — something TMZ identifies as a "Possible Gun." However, there's nothing to corroborate the story one way or the other yet.

The footage is absolutely horrific, even with the actual hit and run itself blurred, and will no doubt have a negative impact on Knight's defense. TMZ comments that law enforcement officials "believe the video shows that Suge could have escaped after hitting Bone the first time by simply driving down the road," a belief that would poke a lot of holes in his self-defense claim. And, even if his claim continues to hold up, there's still the fact that there was a fatality in the hit and run, which means that Knight is likely to face some jail time for manslaughter no matter what the ultimate outcome of the more serious murder charge.

Either way, this video has certainly been enough for him to be convicted by public opinion. Numerous users on Twitter who have viewed the video since it went up on Monday morning have commented on the case, in ways that range from understandable to wildly inappropriate.

Honestly, there are very few right ways that one can react to footage like this, or even a case like this so rife with speculation, but wishing death on Knight for his alleged actions seems just as bad as trying to defend them. Knight's death won't bring back the man that died as a result of his alleged actions, and that man's death is not the kind of thing that the fans can defend Knight against. Whether it was an unavoidable result of alleged self-defense, or whether it was an avoidable result of an unfounded fear, the fact still remains that a man has died. Whatever punishment that the justice system deems fit to give to Knight over this incident is justified, and the opinion of the fans are irrelevant in that.

So, yes, it's fair to speculate that Knight is going away for a long time. Yes, it's fair to be horrified, disgusted, and especially disturbed by the footage found in the video. But convicting him to death or a lighter sentence by public opinion isn't fair, and is just plain unnecessary. This is the kind of tangled and terrifying situation that it's just better not to comment on at all.