Scottie Pippen hit with $4 million lawsuit for incident outside restaurant

Bulls’ legend Scottie Pippen was never charged with a crime regarding an altercation outside a Malibu restaurant last month, but did you really think that would stop the personal lawsuit?

Pippen has been sued for $4 million by 49-year-old plaintiff Camran Shafighi, reports the Associated press. Shafighi claims in the suit he simply asked Pippen for an autograph and a photo outside the restaurant and Pippen responded with an unprovoked attack.

Instead, the suit says, Shafighi got a “brutal and unjustified physical attack” that included spit in the face, a shove, and a punch that sent Shafighi to the ground. “At no time did or could Mr. Shafighi physically provoke or fight back, as he was knocked unconscious with the first blow,” the lawsuit says.

That’s not exactly how police investigators saw it. There were no charges filed and a police spokesman had told reporters that Shafighi was called intoxicated by witnesses. Sources close to Pippen said that Shafighi called him the “N” word and spit on him while Pippen was holding his four-year-old daughter.

So, the courts get to sort this all out — your tax dollars at work. As a guy who spent years writing a crime beat I’ll say I have a pretty good idea who is in the right and who is going after the money here, but I wasn’t there and that’s why we have a legal system to provide justice in these situations. That and to make lawyers rich.