A video from 2016 shows Sean “Diddy” Combs grabbing, pushing, dragging and kicking his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura during an altercation.
Sean Combs (Puff Daddy) . Photo: The Truth Archive
The footage, compiled from multiple camera angles, dated March 5, 2016, appears to show the rapper, producer and business mogul during an incident that Ventura's complaint says took place at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles , now closed. CNN verified the location based on publicly available photos of the interior of the former hotel, edition.cnn writes.
In the footage, Ventura exits a hotel room and heads for the elevator. Combs, holding a towel around his waist, runs down a hallway after the woman. He grabs her by the back of the head and throws her to the floor. Still holding the towel with one hand, he then turns to hit her, the recording shows.
While Ventura is on the ground, Combs retrieves a bag and a suitcase from the floor near the elevators. He turns around and hits Ventura again as she lies motionless on the floor. About four seconds pass between the two shots, according to the video recording. He then briefly drags Ventura by the shirt towards a room before leaving.
Ventura is then seen slowly getting to her feet. She picks up items from the floor and moves to pick up a phone from the lobby wall near the elevators. Combs, still in his towel and socks, returns. A mirror directly across from the surveillance camera shows Combs appearing to push Ventura.
Seconds later, he sits down in a chair, grabs an object from a table and throws it forcefully at Ventura. Combs is seen walking away, then turns back to Ventura as the elevator door opens and someone appears to exit.
Ventura, who reached an undisclosed settlement with Combs, declined to comment on the video obtained by CNN.
Ventura's attorney, Douglas H. Wigdor, said: “The heartbreaking video only further confirmed Mr Combs' disturbing and predatory behaviour. Words cannot express the courage and strength of character Ms. Ventura showed in coming forward to bring this to light.”
The lawsuit filed by Ventura
Combs and Ventura, a model and singer known for songs like “Me & U,” were in an on-and-off relationship from 2007 to 2018. The two were photographed together at the Los Angeles premiere of “A Perfect Match” on the 7 March 2016.
According to Ventura's complaint, which cited the altercation as taking place “around March 2016”,
Combs became “extremely intoxicated and struck Mrs. Ventura in the face, causing a bruise to her eye.”
After Combs fell asleep, Ventura tried to leave the hotel room, but woke up and “he chased her down the hotel lobby while yelling at her“, the complaint states.
“He clung to her, then picked up glassware from the hallway and threw them at her, causing the glass to shatter around them as she ran for the elevator to escape.” it is claimed in the complaint.
After Ventura got in the elevator, she took a cab to her apartment.
“Realizing that her running away would make Combs even angrier at her and completely trapped in his vicious cycle of abuse, Ventura returned to the hotel with the intention of apologizing for running away from her abuser,” it is claimed in the complaint.
“When she returned, hotel security staff urged her to get back into a cab and go to her apartment, suggesting they had seen the security footage showing Combs beating Ventura and throwing shards in it in the hotel lobby.”
Combs allegedly paid the InterContinental Century City $50,000 for security footage of the hallway from that time. The incident was part of a series of allegations made in the November lawsuit, in which Ventura claimed she was raped in 2018 and subjected to years of repeated physical and other abuse by Combs.
