Kanye West set to complete community service over photographer assault

Los Angeles: Kanye West has nearly completed the community service hours imposed on the rapper after he pleaded no contest to charges that he assaulted a photographer outside Los Angeles International Airport, his attorney told a court on Tuesday. West did not appear at the progress hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court, but his attorney Blair Berk said at the hearing that her client has completed 228 out of 250 hours of community service and will likely finish the rest by a Sept. 15 court date, allowing him to fulfill the terms of his probation. [caption id=“attachment_2133365” align=“alignleft” width=“385”]  Kanye West in a file photo. AFP[/caption] West was involved in a fight outside of Los Angeles International Airport in July 2013 with photographer Daniel Ramos, an incident that followed a 2008 encounter he had with a photographer at the airport that had resulted in his arrest. In a video posted by celebrity news website TMZ of the 2013 incident, the rapper appeared to lunge at Ramos, and prosecutors accused him of trying to take equipment from the photographer. West, who has been in the spotlight since his 2004 album The College Dropout started garnering even more frequent paparazzi attention when he began dating reality TV star Kim Kardashian in 2012. The couple has since married and they have a daughter, North West. In 2013, West pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery and grand theft charges stemming from the incident. In March 2014, he was sentenced to two years of probation, which included a requirement to complete community service and anger management counseling. Berk told Reuters on Tuesday that the rapper has completed all of his anger management counseling. West last year avoided a civil trial over the fracas when he settled a lawsuit brought by Ramos. Reuters