Rapper Meek Mill was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment on Thursday night (17Aug17), after police caught him riding an allegedly illegal dirt bike through New York.
The 30-year-old musician, real name Robert Rihmeek Williams, first caught cops' attention when he posted videos of himself performing "wheelies" - a vehicle manoeuvre where the front tyre comes off the ground as the force is entirely on the rear wheel - in Inwood on Wednesday night at around 8.23pm on his Instagram page.
According to a New York Police Department spokesperson, the video showed Mill without a helmet and putting "himself and others at great risk of injury" as he performed the stunt.
Several of Mill's fans said that he documented being pulled over by police at around 10.15pm, on the corner of 10th Ave. and Dyckman St., live on Instagram.
“It was on his live (( POLICE LITERALLY PULLED HIM OVER AND HE TURNED HIS LIVE ON. Cop said wasn't that you doing wheelies or whatever yesterday on the bikes," one wrote. "Meek goes what r u talking about and he goes wasn't that u. And they pulled him out the car. He is detained! ))) smh (shake my head) free meek (sic)."
A video of the alleged arrest, the footage originally shared on Instagram Live, has since made its way online. In the video, Mill can be heard telling officers he was coming from a basketball game, to which an unidentified policeman starts asking him about Wednesday's dirt biking.
"You weren’t riding around with a motorcycle yesterday? I got pictures of you, I got videos of running up and down," he says.
Mill manages to avoid answering the question but tells officers he has the right to be treated with the same respect as anyone else. As the video nears its conclusion, the officer can be overheard saying "Cuff him up".
Mill was charged with one count of reckless endangerment and was awaiting arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court late on Thursday night.
His last post on social media saw him promoting a scheduled appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The show’s Twitter page later uploaded a video of him performing with The Dream.
