A portion of R&B singer Chris Brown's legal troubles are over. The misdemeanor hit-and-run charge against the 24-year-old Grammy winner was dismissed Thursday after a "civil compromise" was reached between the singer and the victim of a May 21 car accident, a Van Nuys Superior Court judge has ruled.
Although the terms of the deal are not known, Brown's attorney, Mark Geragos, said that no money exchanged hands between the Brown and the female motorist whose Mercedes Benz he struck with his Range Rover. The woman, whose identity has not been released, was reimbursed through insurance for $800 in damage to her vehicle, Geragos added.
During the hearing, Deputy City Attorney Patrick D. Hiscocks said that he objected to the settlement because Brown "acted in an aggressive fashion after he refused to present his ID" to the driver. Hiscocks also opposed the dropping of the charges because Brown was on felony probation for the 2009 assault of singer Rihanna, his girlfriend at the time. He said the woman "felt she was being castigated'' on social media and the Internet in the aftermath of the accident.
After the crash, Brown accidentally gave the driver the insurance card for another vehicle, Geragos admitted on Thursday. The charges stemmed from his alleged refusal to show his driver's license, giving false insurance information, and leaving the scene. Geragos said that Brown met with the woman and they both wanted to put the incident behind them.
"Sometimes I get the impression that (Brown is) prosecuted for who he is, not for what he's done,'' Geragos said after the hearing.
Brown, who was not present in court, will face a different judge in Los Angeles on Friday about his probation, which was revoked last month in response to the hit-and-run charges.
On Friday, Brown suffered a non-epileptic seizure, which his doctors attributed "to intense fatigue and extreme emotional stress, both due to the continued onslaught of unfounded legal matters and the nonstop negativity," according to a statement released by his publicist.