Rapper T.I. has been charged with three misdemeanors stemming from his arrest for allegedly assaulting a security guard.
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., was charged with public drunkenness, and disorderly conduct and simple assault by Henry County, Georgia, prosecutors connected to his arrest in May for allegedly assaulting a gated security guard because he was refused entry to the premises. Henry County Deputy Police Chief Mike Ireland said T.I. and a friend were arrested.
Steve Sadow, T.I.’s attorney said the rapper identified himself and sought entry, but the guard refused. The rapper contacted his wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle, who confirmed that her husband should be allowed inside the community.
The new charges are “baseless, ill-founded and unjustified,” says Sadow. In a separate statement issued to the Atlanta Journal, Sadow said: “Indeed, we understand the security guard was fired for the way he handled the situation with T.I. We had sincerely hoped that the Henry County Solicitor had better, more important, things to do to serve the Henry County community than prosecute an African American over a verbal dispute during an encounter with a security guard who was asleep at his post and was unwilling to provide his name to T.I. so T.I. could report the guard’s misconduct to his employer.”
The rapper served nearly seven months in prison in 2009 after his arrest on federal gun charges and spent roughly 10 months in federal prison on a probation violation in 2010 after he was arrested on drug charges in Los Angeles. The drug arrest violated his probation — he had been ordered not to commit a crime and not to illegally possess any controlled substances — and led to an 11-month prison sentence at an Arkansas prison.
The three-time Grammy-winner is one of the biggest names in hip-hop, with multiple platinum-selling albums and singles, production credits and roles in films like “ATL” and “American Gangster.”
The Atlanta-based crooner is also a vocal critic of President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, T.I. said President Trump is the “poster child for white supremacy.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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