UPDATE January 31 • 8:00am
"No crime has been committed by my client," insists the attorney for Young Lee, the frozen yogurt kingpin accused of going rogue on a homeless guy in Koreatown, bashing the panhandler with a deadly weapon after becoming incensed by the guy's tattoo — depicting a couple, um, doing it. This, after Lee entered a not guilty plea at his arraignment yesterday.
Two weeks after Lee's arrest, the LAPD may be having second thoughts. “Whether [the tattoo] was motive in this attack, that’s still under investigation,” Lt. Andy Nieman told the Los Angeles Times. Still, there are witnesses to the incident. Trial or plea? Pomegranate or green tea? So many decisions!
The yogurt parlors he founded, famous for serving up pricey squirts of frozen desserts, continues to distance itself from the entrepreneur with a criminal past. "He has no influence or input into the company in any way,” wrote a Pinkberry spokeswoman in a statement issued after Lee’s arrest.
The judge is trusting Lee to turn in his passport when he returns from a visit to South Korea. Lee's $60,000 bail stands.
Sure, being hit up by sidewalk panhandlers at a traffic light can be awkward. What to do? Try the Pinkberry way. Charget out of your Range Rover, break the homeless guy's arm with a tire iron, and throw in a few slashing blows to the head.
That, says the Los Angeles District Attorney, is what Pinkberry co-founder Young Lee did one summer’s afternoon last year on Vermont Avenue near the Hollywood Freeway offramp. That's Lee, above, seen with fellow Pinkberry co-founder Shelly Hwang. Lee was arrested Monday at LAX, booked for assault with a deadly weapon and released on $60,000 bail. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.
What on earth prompted the assault? According to the DA, Lee and a second unidentified suspect “got out of the vehicle and confronted the victim because Lee thought the victim had disrespected him by exposing a sexually explicit tattoo.” Huh? How obnoxious can a tattoo get? A couple screwing — and without toppings?
It’s not Lee’s first run-in with the law. The former kickboxer and night club bouncer was busted and convicted on a felony drug count, and a misdemeanor firearms charge, in 2001. He’ll be back in court February 6 for arraignment. Pinkberry’s PR machine is mum for the mo.
Here's the LAPD press release.
