Lil Tjay interacted with police on Instagram Live Tuesday in what Billboard confirmed was part of his arrest.
In the clip, he was captured telling New York City Police Department officers not to touch him and insisting that he had no guns in his vehicle. “No, bro. Hell no. What’s in the car? I don’t know what’s in the car,” he’s heard saying. “Don’t touch me. There’s no firearm in the car.” Shortly after, he appears to be getting handcuffed.
Tjay’s lawyer Dawn Florio told TMZ the rapper had been filming a music video before the police encounter. A NYPD spokesperson told Billboard the cops arrived after observing “a male waving what appeared to be a black firearm from a sunroof of a moving motor vehicle” around 1st Avenue and East 23rd Street.
The male, identified as Tione Merritt aka Tjay, was taken into custody and found with an imitation pistol. He was charged with reckless endangerment, obstructing governmental administration and criminal possession of a weapon.
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