Rihanna releases statement regarding incident

In her first statement since she was allegedly attacked by Chris Brown, Rihanna thanked fans for their support but declined to address the accusations against her boyfriend, citing an ongoing police investigation.

"At the request of the authorities, Rihanna is not commenting about the incident involving Chris Brown," read a statement released by Rubenstein Associates. "She wants to assure her fans that she remains strong, is doing well, and deeply appreciates the outpouring of support she has received during this difficult time."

The statement was released hours after the entertainment gossip website TMZ released a photo that purportedly shows the battered face of the pop star, with bruises on her forehead, bloody lips and other marks on her face.

The Los Angeles Police Department announced it was investigating the leak shortly after the photos were posted Thursday evening. On Friday, Chief William Bratton said his department is conducting an internal investigation, but also a criminal conspiracy case that could result in up to three years in prison.

"It as an embarrassment to this department," Bratton said. He said the agency believes a department employee leaked the photo, and that the department is working to quickly complete separate investigations into Rihanna's beating and the photo's leak.

Brown, 19, is under investigation for an attack on a woman in the hours leading up to this month's Grammy awards in Los Angeles. A person familiar with the situation, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity, has confirmed that the woman was Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty.

Both stars were due to perform at the awards show, but subsequently dropped out; Brown surrendered to the authorities as the ceremony was underway.

Since the alleged attack, both stars have kept a low profile, but Brown did issue a statement of remorse last weekend, saying, in part: "Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired." The statement, which also said that he was seeking counselling from a pastor and family members, he did not mention Rihanna.

Friday marked Rihanna's 21st birthday. The platinum-selling singer canceled a planned birthday bash in New York and postponed concerts overseas in the days following the incident.

In related news, TMZ inside sources spilled the numbers that Levin’s minions are believed to have shelled out quite a fair amount for pictures taken of Rihanna immediately after the alleged Chris Brown attack. The source of the photo leak, a law enforcement insider close to the investigation, reportedly raked in $62.5k (US), double the salary of the person suspected of leaking the pic. Sources state TMZ pays a relative or friend of the snitch within 24 hours of receipt of a photo to cover their tracks.

The Real Chris Brown Stands Up

In his first statement since facing assault allegations, the singer's sorry, sad and certainly not venting on Facebook.

Chris Brown didn't update his Facebook status to ominously warn his friends about recently smacked around singer Rihanna. In his first statement on the "super scandal", he denies any of the comments attributed to him on the always accurate internet were his.

"Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired. I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God's help, to emerging a better person."

"Much of what has been speculated or reported on blogs and/or reported in the media is wrong. While I would like to be able to talk about this more, until the legal issues are resolved, this is all I can say except that I have not written any messages or made any posts to Facebook, on blogs or any place else. Those posts or writings under my name are frauds."

Media Takeout had posted a screenshot of Christopher Maurice Brown's Facebook with a status line "you'll begin to see her true colors. Believe me." It was then picked up by the New York Post and other suckas (like, um, me) before Chris denied it was his account.

Recent reports have claimed both Chris and Rihanna are in Los Angeles; Rihanna with her longtime assistant Melissa Forde and Chris with his mother Joyce Hawkins. A source tells Radar Online that Chris says he and Rihanna have broken up and he doesn't think she'll press charges.

Ya, good luck with that Chris. Her dad, Ronald Fenty, thinks Rihanna wants to set a good example for women in abusive relationships. "She has support from both sides of the family, and I think she'll come out and represent women and be a heroine," Ronald Fenty told People. "In the end, she'll speak out." That's where I'm hanging my hopes and dreams: that Rihanna's over at Tina Turner's house right now picking up that torch she's been meaning to pass on.

Charges against off-duty officers recommended

An update to the story posted Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 7:40PM
Surrey B.C. man alleges assault and racial abuse by 3 off-duty police officers

The Vancouver Police Department is recommending charges against two Lower Mainland police officers in connection with an alleged assault on a newspaper deliveryman in downtown Vancouver last week.

A rookie officer from West Vancouver Police Department may be charged with robbery, and a 38-year-old New Westminster police officer was recommended to be charged with assault and possession of stolen property.

A third officer who was with the pair, a 28-year-old from the Delta Police Department, has not been charged.

The names of the two officers would not be released until charges were laid.

The New Westminster Police department said Wednesday afternoon that their officer continues to be suspended with pay. The other two officers had been placed on desk duties.

Firoz "Phil" Khan, a 47-year-old deliveryman from Surrey, was dropping off newspapers to pay boxes and local hotels in the 600-block of Burrard Street in the early hours of Wednesday, Jan. 21, when he was allegedly kicked and beaten by three men.

Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu said six investigators from his department spent the weekend interviewing nine witnesses. They also interviewed Khan at length.

Chu said more investigators than usual were put on the case, and he took the unusual step of meeting with them while the investigation was ongoing.

Hate crime charges are not being pursued, said Chu.

He added that the Delta officer may have been trying to stop the attack.

The attack took place in the presence of a taxi driver who took two of the officers from the Roxy nightclub to the location near the Hyatt Hotel, and two City of Vancouver employees, Meatr Chima and Phil Pilon.

Chima and Pilon say the attack was so brutal they actually feared for the victim's life, not to mention their own.

"I wanted to jump in and get the one guy who was doing the punching off of the victim," said Pilon.

"Justice probably won't be served, I don't think so," said Chima.

"If it was a guy like me who did that to that guy there would be justice served, but against those police officers I doubt it. I think these police officers should look at themselves in the mirror and think of what they've done. I mean this is ridiculous."

Speaking from his Surrey home on Friday, Khan says one of the only reasons he's alive is because the two city workers stopped to help.

He said he had suffered serious injuries to his head and internal injuries after the attack. He also lost a filling and chipped a tooth.

"Thank God there was a lot of city workers that I know that clean the streets in downtown Vancouver," he said.

He fears what would happen if it didn't happen on city streets.

"Just imagine this thing happened on a back lane. I would have been dead and buried."

Surrey B.C. man alleges assault and racial abuse by 3 off-duty police officers

Phil Khan says he is 'very traumatized'

The man who was allegedly assaulted by three off-duty Metro Vancouver police officers says he was beaten, robbed and racially abused.

Phil Khan spoke publicly Friday for the first time since the incident early Wednesday morning in downtown Vancouver.

Khan, who met the media outside his Surrey home, alleged that he was beaten for seven to eight minutes in an unprovoked assault and that the three assailants all smelled of alcohol.

Khan said he was working at the time, delivering newspapers, and was about to make a delivery to the Hyatt Regency Vancouver hotel on Burrard Street.

A man approached him and asked for directions to Broadway and Cambie Street in Vancouver, he said.

Khan, who met the media outside his Surrey home, alleged that he was beaten for seven to eight minutes in an unprovoked assault and that the three assailants all smelled of alcohol.

Khan said he was working at the time, delivering newspapers, and was about to make a delivery to the Hyatt Regency Vancouver hotel on Burrard Street.

A man approached him and asked for directions to Broadway and Cambie Street in Vancouver, he said.

"He says, 'Come here, you idiot,' and then I said, 'Take it easy,'" Khan said.

"I said, 'Let me finish this delivery first, and I will tell you how to go.' Then he kept on saying, 'You come here now.'"

According to Khan, the man then pulled Khan's jacket and started kicking him.

Two other men arrived in a taxi from a pub on nearby Granville Street and jumped into the fight, according to the cab driver who took them to the location outside the Hyatt hotel.

The driver of the cab, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Yash, said he called police at around 2:30 a.m.

Khan said the three men also racially abused him.

"They are telling me, 'We don't like brown people' and kept saying it and beating me."

He said he was crying out for help but was surprised by what the three men told him.

"They told me, 'We are the police. You don't need help. If you don't behave … we have a Taser,'" Khan said.

Khan said the men finally stopped beating him after some city workers and a cab driver came to help.

He said he was robbed of $200 and that after being beaten, he told his assailants, 'I'm half dead anyways after you guys beat me up so badly. You might as well use the Taser and then kill me.' That's the end of the story."

Khan's wife, Zabida, said her husband suffered both physical and psychological injuries and remains "on heavy medication."

"He has injuries in his stomach, back, knees [and] hands. He can't sleep," she said, adding he has had two doctor's visits since.

The couple has three young daughters, aged between four months and 4½.

"We are a very quiet family. We live in a very quiet neighbourhood," she said.

Khan said he always has great respect for police, who are protectors of the innocent, but he is utterly "very traumatized" by the ordeal.

"I feel very afraid now … I have always liked my job … now I feel very different, very afraid," he said.

Officers suspended or reassigned

The three off-duty officers were arrested by Vancouver police as a result of the altercation. The officers belong with the West Vancouver, New Westminster and Delta police departments.

The officers' names have not yet been released, and no charges have been laid. Vancouver police continue to investigate the incident.

The three police services of which the officers are members will each conduct an internal review of the case. All four investigations will be conducted by police and overseen by the B.C. police complaint commissioner.

A 38-year-old officer with New Westminster Police Service has been suspended (with pay) for at least 30 days. He joined the force four years ago.

A junior officer with West Vancouver Police Department, and a patrol constable who has three years' experience with Delta police, have both been reassigned to desk duties.

In a statement issued Friday Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu said the public should have confidence in the police investigation of three officers.

"This investigation is being pursued aggressively and fully. We are in the process of interviewing witnesses and examining evidence, including any video that may have been recorded," Chu said.

I'll hold off on passing judgement or pointing fingers until further information is released on the incident, but does anyone else have any thoughts?