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The video of Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting Casandra “Cassie” Ventura was released by CNN in 2024<\/p>\n
Days after Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs viciously beat his then-girlfriend\u00a0Casandra \u201cCassie\u201d Ventura<\/a>\u00a0in a hotel lobby in 2016, she wrote him a heartbreaking message.<\/p>\n The incident, in which Combs\u00a0chased down Ventura<\/a>, shoved her to the ground, kicked her as she lay motionless, and then dragged her down a hallway at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, has become key evidence in the prosecution\u2019s sex-trafficking case against him.<\/p>\n Ventura, who was Combs\u2019 on-again, off-again girlfriend for 11 years, was in court on Friday, May 16, for the\u00a0fourth day of her testimony in Combs\u2019 trial<\/a>.<\/p>\n In text exchanges read aloud in court during cross-examination, the jury got a glimpse of Ventura\u2019s state of mind days after the incident, which was caught on hotel security camera and\u00a0published by CNN<\/a>\u00a0in May 2024.<\/p>\n On March 10, 2016, five days after the attack that Combs has since apologized for, Ventura wrote, “When you get f—ed up the wrong way you always want to show me that you have the power and you knock me around.”<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI\u2019m not a rag doll, I\u2019m someone\u2019s child.”<\/p>\n Ventura testified earlier in the week that the assault took place as she was trying to leave a\u00a0\u201cFreak Offs\u201d<\/a>\u00a0session \u2014 sex encounters where she alleges Combs forced her into sexual acts with other men, often while she was on drugs, which he then recorded to keep as what he allegedly called\u00a0\u201cblackmail material.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Friday marked the end of the first week of Combs’ trial, with two witnesses other than Ventura: a male escort who was involved in a “Freak Offs” session and a security guard who responded to Combs’ room after the assault in the hotel lobby.<\/p>\n Both men testified they witnessed Ventura reeling from Combs’ alleged abuse immediately after the respective alleged assaults.<\/p>\n Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges.<\/p>\n If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to\u00a0thehotline.org<\/a>. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24\/7 in more than 170 languages.<\/em><\/p>\n