Lamar Odom avoids criminal charges in confrontation with photographer, report says
Lamar Odom arrives for a custody hearing with ex-girlfriend Liza Morales at New York State Supreme Court in New York City. (March 5, 2013) Credit: Getty Images
NBA free agent Lamar Odom, husband of reality-TV star Khloé Kardashian Odom, has struck a deal to avoid criminal charges stemming from his confrontation with a photographer on July 10.
Odom, who turns 34 Wednesday, and his attorney, Shawn Holley, attended a meeting at the Los Angeles city attorney's office Monday, TMZ.com reported. A hearing officer there said Odom would not be prosecuted for vandalism if he pays for the photographer's broken equipment and breaks no laws for a year. TMZ said he also agreed to attend anger management classes.
City attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan later confirmed to E! News that the prosecutor's office "admonished" the former Los Angeles Clippers player and "advised him on how to go forward." E! said the city attorney had met with the photographer, Stefan Saad, on Oct. 25.
A civil court case remains pending. Saad sued Odom in September, reported the Courthouse News Service, and alleged in an 11-page filing that after he asked the parked Odom if he had cheated on his wife, "Mr. Odom then exited his vehicle and retrieved a large metal rod." Thus armed, says the filing, Odom took Saad's camera and other equipment from the photographer's car and smashed it on the ground.
As other photographers shot the encounter, Odom gathered the broken equipment, put it in the trunk of his car and drove off, with Saad following. Saad's suit says "over $15,000 worth of camera equipment" was destroyed, and asks for compensatory damages of no less than $500,000.
