Update, November 15 at 10 a.m.: Polo G is no longer facing three out of the five charges that he was arrested on during a police stop in June, per TMZ. Due to insufficient evidence, prosecutors have reportedly dropped two felony charges — battery of a police officer and threatening a public servant — against the rapper, as well as a misdemeanor charge for criminal mischief. According to Polo G’s attorney, the remaining two charges (misdemeanors for resisting an officer) will be dropped after the 22-year-old completes an anger-management program.
Original story follows.
On Friday, June 11, 22-year-old rapper Polo G released his third album, Hall of Fame. He performed his single “Rapstar,†on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. And then, upon leaving the album release party around 1 a.m., the Miami Police Department arrested him and his 16-year-old brother and took them into custody, according to Miami Herald reports. According to police records of the arrest, Polo G was charged with battery of an officer, criminal mischief, resisting officer without violence, resisting officer with violence, and something called “public servant/influence performance/threat.â€
Polo G’s mother and manager, Stacia Mac, took a video that was shared on Instagram by DJ Akademiks, in which she asks a group of unresponsive officers in front of a number of police cars at the scene, “Where are my sons? All of this, for two boys? Where are my sons?†According to Mac, the police would not give a reason for why they were arresting her sons, and threatened to arrest her for inquiring at the scene.
In another video circulated by DJ Akademiks, Mac films from inside her own vehicle at the scene, saying, “It’s ridiculous. They won’t let me speak to my sons. Not only will they not let me speak to Polo, they won’t let me speak to [her minor son], who is 16 years old. And when we walked up, they told us, in Miami, that we would be arrested if I asked what was going on with my minor son or any of my children.â€
She alleges, “They were not driving. They have a driver. We’re leaving his album-release party, the car is stopped. And when the car gets stopped, they drag my children out of the car. They’re calling me on FaceTime. And can you imagine, as a mother, how powerless you feel when the people who are tasked with their safety are the very aggressors who would literally, easily take my children’s life? It’s not going to happen. Not today.â€
Finally, Mac suggests that the arrest could have been an unwarranted result of racial profiling, saying, “No, they were not suicidal. No, they were not on no motherfucking drugs. No, they were not acting crazy. They’re not gonna do anything to my children, because we are celebrating a success, and in celebrating a success, they turned around and they villainized them, because they’re Black. Because they’re wealthy. Because they do not belong, according to them.â€
Mac also posted to Twitter, “None of these charges would be possible if the POLICE did not make contact with my son Polo G!!! He was NOT the driver. He was a PASSENGER in a professionally licensed vehicle with security. He was moving smart and correctly. What more could he have done.â€