Late Thursday night, rapper MC Hammer was arrested in Northern California for obstructing a police officer after he was found in a car with expired registration and he could not prove that he was the registered owner of the car. According to Hammer, the officer in question approached him in the parked car and asked him very offensive questions … which is where the alleged obstruction came into play. Yikes! Click below to see MC Hammer‘s mugshot and read some deets about what went down … from both sides of the story.
Rapper MC Hammer launched a string of tweets Saturday with his side of the story two days after he was arrested in northern California for allegedly obstructing an officer. Among his tweets, Hammer said, apparently referring to the arresting officer, that he was asked whether he was on parole or probation before the man tried to pull him out of his vehicle Thursday night. Police in Dublin, east of Oakland, said Hammer was in a vehicle with expired registration and he was not the registered owner. “After asking Hammer who the registered owner was he became very argumentative and refused to answer the officer’s questions,” police spokesman Herb Walters wrote Saturday evening in an e-mail to CNN. Hammer — a rap and dance icon in the late 1980s and 1990s — was arrested on suspicion of resisting an officer and obstructing an officer in the performance of his duties, according to police spokesman Herb Walters. The incident occurred at the Hacienda Crossings shopping center. Hammer began his tweets Saturday with “chubby elvis looking dude was tapping on my car window, I rolled down the window and he said ‘Are you on parole or probation?’” “While I was handing him my ID he reached in my car and tried to pull me out the car but forgot he was on a steady donut diet,” Hammer continued. “It was comical to me until he pulled out his guns, blew his whistle and yelled for help (MallCop) !!! But make no mistake he’s dangerous.” Hammer, 50, was booked and released on bail from Santa Rita Jail, Walters said. A court date is next month, and police have until that time to decide on any charges. No drugs or alcohol were suspected in the incident, police said. In another tweet, Hammer, born Stanley Kirk Burrell, said, “only thing more dangerous than a scared man with a gun, is a scared man with an agenda, a gun and a badge.” “I will now answer his question, contrary to his personal beliefs, all people of color are not on parole or probation fat boy!!!,” wrote Hammer, later adding he thought of his arrest as “a teachable moment” and an “eye opener.”
As sad as this scenario sounds, the fact is that this kind of stuff happens every day. Naturally we cannot know for sure exactly what went down and who said what but I honestly believe Hammer’s side of the story. Look, the man was sitting in a parked car in a shopping center lot and he was approached by a police officer that seemingly had no cause to question him. I, too, would get heated if I was accused of “being on probation”. While it prolly wasn’t a great idea for Hammer to get riled up by the questioning (to the point that I also believe he pushed back enough to escalate the incident toward arrest), I can’t say that I blame him … that is, if things went down as he says. This is just a sad story and a sad reality. Blah.
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I have a friend who lives in the Bay Area and is a visible minority. Some of the stories she has about the local cops are disheartening.
I still think it’s bad form that he took to Twitter like that. Complain about his poor treatment, sure, but making doughnut jabs is low.
@Serenity — “Complain about his poor treatment, sure, but making doughnut jabs is low.”
You know, that was my first reaction too … but then I imagined what it must feel like to be arrested and mugshotted for an incident like this. An arrest, even if proven innocent, is on your record forever. Mugshots never die. I would be beyond pissed if I was arrested for an incident like this and I imagine, in my anger, I would say uncharacteristic things … I think I would deffo want to attack. Was the donut thing the right thing to say? Probably not but in the scheme of what went down, he could’ve said a lot worse.