Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight has been charged with murder over a fatal hit and run in Los Angeles and is being held on US$2million (A$2.58m) bail.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sergeant Diane Hecht said Knight was arrested at about 3am on Friday morning local time (10pm AEDT) and is being held at the department's West Hollywood station.

Knight's attorney said the rap mogul turned himself in after accidentally running over and killing a friend and injured another man as he fled attackers.

Death Row Records founder Marion 'Suge' Knight, right, walking into the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department. (AAP) (AAP)

Officials say that a red pickup truck struck the men in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. A 55-year-old man died at a hospital and a 51-year-old man was injured but his condition is unknown.

The victim has been named by TMZ as Terry Carter, a friend of Knight's who was reportedly attempting to get into the car when he was hit.

Earlier Knight's attorney James Blatt told AP his client would be cleared.

"We are confident that once the investigation is completed, he will be totally exonerated," Mr Blatt said by telephone.

Late Thursday, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lieutenant John Corina told reporters that the crash occurred around 3 pm PST (10am AEDT) in the parking lot of the restaurant in the Los Angeles-area city of Compton and then the driver took off.

"Looks like he drove backwards and struck the victims and drove forwards and struck them again," Lt Corina said.

"The people we talked to say it looked like it was an intentional act," he said.

The Sheriff's Department said in a statement that two people were in the parking lot when the red pick-up arrived and its driver became involved in an argument with them

"The argument escalated and the driver backed up striking one of the victims. The driver then drove forward driving over both victims," the sheriff's statement said. "Various witnesses described the driver as being Marion Suge Knight."

The empty truck was found late Thursday night in a West Los Angeles parking lot, Lt Corina said.

He said the rap mogul was seen driving a red pickup truck 20 minutes earlier in a different part of town where a video was being shot.

Witnesses also spoke of an argument.

"To see the argument happen, it's one thing," said 17-year-old Robert Smith, who was eating in the restaurant. "Seeing the car incident, that was shocking."

Blatt said it was an accident.

"He was in the process of being physically assaulted by two men and in an effort to escape he unfortunately hit two (other) individuals," the lawyer said. "He was in his car trying to escape."

Fellow hip-hop superstars the Game, Ice Cube and Dr Dre were reportedly on the Compton set at the time.

Knight was shot six times in August last year at Hollywood party hosted by controversial singer Chris Brown.

He was also rushed to hospital in November after suffering a blood clot in jail, where he was being held after stealing the camera of a paparazzo.

Rapper Tupac Shakur with Knight in 1996. (AAP)

The founder of Death Row Records, Knight was embroiled in Los Angeles’ infamous mid-1990s rap feud, including the fatal shootings of Tupac Shakur and Chris "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace.

He was implicated in both crimes but was never prosecuted.

With AP

Knight has faced a litany of a legal problems over his career. (AAP)