David LaChapelle Faces $1M Lawsuit For Alleged Gallery Owner Assault

by Jada Wong | 12:50 pm, March 8th, 2013

Photographer David LaChapelle has been handed a $1 million suit for allegedly beating and choking gallery owner James Parmenter.

Twenty-five-year-old Parmenter filed the suit in Manhattan court earlier this week, alleging that LaChapelle, 49, accosted him at 1 AM last March in a Chelsea apartment. The exact residence in which the assault took place is unclear; the New York Post has it at the townhouse of LaChapelle’s former manager while the New York Daily News writes that it was at Parmenter’s apartment.

The incident was not reported to the police, but the suit claims:

“LaChapelle pushed and threw Parmenter around the apartment, including into the bed, exercise equipment and closet, and choked Parmenter nearly to the point of unconsciousness.”

LaChapelle’s rep denied the allegations to the Post.

[NYDN, NYP via Vogue UK]

David LaChapelle James Parmenter legal