Cliff Notes
- Officer Israel Florez, a witness, testified he encountered Sean Combs allegedly in a domestic dispute with Cassie Ventura at the InterContinental Hotel on 5 March 2016.
- Florez reported observing Ventura in a corner appearing scared and with a bruised eye, while Combs allegedly attempted to prevent her from leaving and offered a bribe.
- Florez stated that Combs tried to seize the phones of hotel security, believing he was being recorded, but the situation was eventually de-escalated.
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The first witness in the case to give evidence is Israel Florez, a Los Angeles police officer.
The court hears he has been a police officer for seven years, but in March 2016 worked in security for the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles.
He was on shift from 6am to 2pm on 5 March 2016, the day Sean Combs was filmed on CCTV at the hotel allegedly attacking his then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
Mr Florez says he received a call about an incident on the sixth floor at about 11am. When he got there, he says he saw Combs in just a towel and socks, and tells the court he recognised the rapper.
He says Cassie was in a corner, covering her face, but he did not recognise her.
“She was scared,” Mr Florez testifies. “She was in the corner, hood on, covered up. I couldn’t see her face, she was pretty much in the corner.”
There was a destroyed flower vase on the floor, he tells the court. Combs was slouched on a chair, he continues, looking with what he describes as a “devilish” stare.
Mr Florez says Combs told him they had been arguing and that he noticed Ms Ventura trying to walk away and get her phone, but the rapper told her she could not leave.
He tells the court they then went to their room, where a man was on the bed. After standing there for a few minutes, he says Ms Ventura left.
“I started to leave and [Combs] called for me,” Mr Florez tells the court. “He had a sack of money and he threw it at me and said: ‘Don’t tell anyone.'”
When asked what he thought of this, the witness tells the court he believed it was a bribe, and he told the rapper he did not want it.
When he caught up with Cassie, he says her eye was purple. Mr Florez tells the jurors that he offered to call the police, but she told him she just wanted to leave.
Florez also tells the court that Combs attempted to take the phones of hotel security guards.
“He came to the door, closed the door behind him, he grabbed the phone my colleague was holding because he thought he was being recorded, he eventually gave the phone back,” he testifies.
“We said we are not recording you and de-escalated the situation,” he adds.