LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A man charged with sexually assaulting a teenager was punched outside of a Las Vegas courtroom, video obtained by NewsNation affiliate KLAS reveals.
Yousuf Azami, 59, was scheduled to have his preliminary hearing on kidnapping, lewdness and sex assault charges Tuesday, Jan. 23.
Azami walked out of the Las Vegas Justice Court courtroom before the hearing. A man, believed to possibly be connected to the victim in the case, then punched Azami, knocking him to the ground, the video shows.
Several people, including an officer, then rush toward Azami and the man who is on video punching him. That man, later identified as Glenn Cromwell Jr., is charged with battery.
Azami, an actor who was born in Afghanistan, allegedly sexually assaulted a teenager in his home in September, documents said. On Sept. 3, 2023, officers responded to the Mirage Hotel for a report of a teenager who said she got into Azami’s car where he drove to his home and raped her.
The teenager, whose age is redacted in court documents, told police she was walking around looking to “get something to smoke and eat” when she encountered Azami in a marijuana dispensary parking lot.
Azami then drove the pair to his apartment, police said.
“Azami was on the couch for a while on his phone and then came to lay with her on the bed,” police said. “[The teenager] had just started to fall asleep when Azami lay behind her. She stated she felt his pelvis ‘grinding’ against her and he was not wearing any clothes.”
According to police, the teenager asked Azami to stop, documents said. The teenager then took a shower, put on a piece of Azami’s clothing and ran out of the apartment. She was in the area of the Mirage where “she met a man who was picking up his wife,” telling him “she had been kidnapped and raped and needed police,” documents said.
Azami denied having any sexual contact with the teenager, police said. He also said he did not know the teenager’s age.
Azami was due to return to court Feb. 20. He was already out of custody on $5,000 bail. A judge released Cromwell on his own recognizance. He was due to return to court March 19.
Earlier this month, a man was reported on video in the same court building jumping a table and charging at a district court judge. Deobra Redden, 30, faces several charges connected to the incident involving Judge Mary Kay Holthus.
In October, Tylor Fu, 30, punched Richard Gross, 80, during a court hearing. Fu said that Gross sexually abused him for years as a child. He was then arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge. The charge was later dropped.