Rapper Kevin Gates Claims Fan-Kicking Incident Was Self-Defense, Petitions To Have The Case Thrown Out

Kevin Gates is looking to Florida’s controversial "stand your ground" law in the hopes that it will get him out of legal trouble. The “2 Phones” rapper is said to have kicked a female fan in August 2015 during a Lakeland, Florida, concert — an action he now claims was completely necessary.

According to TMZ, Gates, 30, has filed legal documents in which he claims the fan — a woman by the name of Miranda Dixon — attempted to grab him twice during the show. He believed that she was trying to pull him off stage, which he feared might cause him bodily harm. The New Orleans native alleges that he warned Dixon not to reach for him again once before kicking her. He's hoping that the judge overseeing the case will look at it as self-defense and throw the case out. The rapper reportedly hopes Florida's stand your ground laws — which provide certain rights to individuals fearing for their lives during an incident — will protect him.

Lakeland Police launched an investigation into the case shortly after the concert. Sources close to the case told TMZ in September that local authorities were working with the State Attorney’s Office and were optimistic about the outcome. Gates was eventually charged with simple battery.

The incident in question took place on Aug. 29, 2015, inside a nightclub. Another attendee of the concert was able to get a quick video of the incident. The clip does, in fact, show Dixon pawing at the rapper’s shorts before he kicks her, though it is unclear exactly what part of her body his foot made contact with. There does not appear to be any verbal warning prior to the kick, though it is possible the video was taken afterward. WFLA reported on the altercation after it occurred. The news outlet spoke with the girl’s mother, who claimed her daughter passed out and was admitted to the hospital as a result of the kick. She is said to have had to undergo a CT scan, though her mother did not say what those scans revealed.

“It pissed me off,” her mother, Kristy Irelan, said. “I don’t care who you are — an NFL player, just a regular person or a rapper — you don’t come to anybody’s hometown and kick anybody. She did not deserve that.”