Meek Mill arrested, charged with reckless endangerment in New York City
Another arrest for the Philly rapper.
Philly rapper Meek Mill has been arrested and charged with reckless endangerment in New York City after allegedly riding a dirt bike through city streets and posting a video of the stunt to Instagram, New York police have confirmed.
Mill, 30, was arrested about 10:15 p.m. Thursday after he was spotted in a video on the social-media platform riding a motorcycle without a helmet and popping wheelies in the city's Inwood section on Wednesday night, police said, adding that a witness who called 911 was able to identify Mill.
The alleged video could not be found on Mill's social-media accounts.
The rapper did live-stream his arrest on Instagram, which fans have since uploaded to YouTube. The video contains strong language, so please view at your own discretion:
"I got pictures and video of you riding up and down," an officer can be heard telling Mill.
Joseph Tacopina, Mill's attorney, could not be reached for comment. Tacopina, however, told the New York Daily News that the rapper had been arrested due to his celebrity status, and that if "his name was John Smith, he wouldn't have even been arrested."
"That level of investigation is normally reserved for heinous crimes, not for petty offenses like doing a wheelie on the street where you're endangering no one's life but your own," Tacopina said. "It really stinks of obvious targeting an individual who is a celebrity and maybe who law enforcement don't like, and it's not what the system is supposed to be about."
It is illegal to ride dirt bikes in New York City, and the NYPD last year began a crackdown on riders who ignore the law. Cops seized about 1,600 vehicles in 2016, some of which were crushed in a publicity stunt led by NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton.
This arrest is the latest for Mill, who last year spent 90 days on house arrest in connection with a probation violation. The rapper was charged in March with assaulting an employee at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
Mill released his newest album, Wins and Losses, last month. He appeared on The Tonight Show in a pretaped performance Thursday night to perform "Young Black America" alongside The-Dream: