Oh, not good news for Akon. It is looking like that incident last weekend where he threw a fan into his audience was not a bit of fun after all. Well, not for the fan anyway. And therefore not for Akon, now that the police are involved.
As previously reported, Akon got security guards to pick out the fan in question after he allegedly threw something at the R&B singer during his performance at a festival organised by US radio station K104 last weekend. Akon then manhandled the fan and ultimately threw him back into the crowd. Although the incident was videoed, it wasn't entirely clear if the fan was playing along (and the being thrown into the audience was essentially an elaborate stage dive), or whether Akon was in fact assaulting the fan live on stage.
Local police put out a call for the fan to come forward, and he has now done so. It isn't entirely clear what he has told officers, although reports seem to suggest the singer is now likely to face criminal charges, which suggests the fan wasn't all that happy about the incident. Some websites are quoting a police source as saying the R&B star might even face attempted murder charges, which would seem a bit extreme, though presumably quite worrying for Akon.
Needless to say, Akon's people are denying anything criminal occurred at the gig. His attorney, Benjamin Brafman, told reporters yesterday: "Given the information that we have reviewed to date, it does not appear to us that Akon was involved in any criminal conduct whatsoever. We are prepared to fully cooperate with any law enforcement agency that may be investigating this incident. We are confident that after a thorough investigation it will be apparent that no criminal prosecution of Akon is warranted".