Rapper Accused of Assault on Photographer at Restaurant

In her second brush with the law in a week, Grammy-winning rapper and sitcom star Queen Latifah was accused by a photographer of assault for allegedly twisting his arm and taking his film after he photographed her in a restaurant, police said Tuesday.

Saturday, Latifah, who lives in Toluca Lake, was arrested on suspicion of carrying a loaded pistol and possession of marijuana after a California Highway Patrol officer pulled her over for allegedly traveling 75 mph on the Santa Monica Freeway.

John Carter, 33, of Pasadena, received a tip from a friend who works at Ribs USA in Burbank that Queen Latifah was eating there Monday afternoon, Burbank Police Lt. Don Brown said. Carter arrived at the Olive Street restaurant about 4 p.m. and began photographing Latifah, 25, the star of Fox’s “Living Single.”

Brown said Latifah, whose real name is Dana Owens, yelled at Carter to stop and he did, according to the photographer’s report. But Carter claims Latifah then came up behind him, twisted his arm, took his camera and removed the film.

“I told you no pictures,” Brown says Carter quoted Latifah as saying. She then finished her meal and drove off, Brown said.

Ninety minutes later, Carter filed an assault and battery complaint with Burbank police, Brown said. The case is being investigated and the district attorney will decide whether to bring criminal charges, he said.

Officials with Latifah’s management company declined to comment on the altercation, calling it “personal.”

Latifah, the victim of an armed carjacking in New York City last summer, won a 1995 Grammy for her song “U.N.I.T.Y.” and has long preached against violence and urban decay in her music.