Action Star Wesley Snipes Sues NYC

[Senusret I]

Action Star Wesley Snipes Sues NYC


Email this Story

Dec 20, 11:04 PM (ET)

By LUKAS I. ALPERT

NEW YORK (AP) - Action film star Wesley Snipes sued the city Monday, charging that it had no jurisdiction to seek his DNA in a paternity suit filed in Indiana by a woman he said was crack-addicted and mentally ill.

The federal suit seeks to nullify a March arrest warrant filed against the 42-year-old star of the "Blade" trilogy by a New York family court judge, who also is named in the suit, and to prevent Indiana prosecutors from continuing to seek the actor's DNA.

Snipes' lawyer, Robert Bernhoft, said his client lives in Orlando, Fla., so New York City had no jurisdiction to file the warrant.

An attorney for New York, Emily Sweet, said the suit was being evaluated and she could not comment further. A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.

The arrest warrant stems from a paternity suit filed in 2002 by a 33-year-old woman who claims that she had sex with Snipes in a Chicago crackhouse and that he fathered her 3-year-old son.

Snipes said in his suit that he never met the woman and claimed she was a "mentally ill former crack addict" who had made wild claims in the past involving celebrities such as Prince, Oprah Winfrey and former President Clinton.

Bernhoft accused LaPorte County, Ind., prosecutors, who also are named in the suit, of pursuing the "fantastical" claims of an "obviously delusional" woman because his client was "an important black male celebrity."

Snipes has appeared in blockbuster films such as "Passenger 57,""White Men Can't Jump" and "Wildcats." His latest, "Blade: Trinity," was one of the weekend's biggest hits and has taken in $35.6 million in two weeks.