Rapper Killer Mike says he'll be cleared of wrongdoing -- following his arrest backstage at the Grammy Awards ceremony Sunday.
It happened shortly after Mike, who's legal name is Michael Render, won three Grammy awards for best rap performance, best rap song, and best rap album.
"We experienced an over-zealous security guard but my team and I 'have the utmost confidence' that I will ultimately be cleared of all wrongdoing," he said in a statement.
Cellphone video showed Killer Mike in handcuffs and being led away by uniformed LAPD officers, who drove him to the Central Area police station on Skid Row for booking and processing.
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On Tuesday LAPD Chief Michel Moore said he personally intervened once notified about the incident, to make sure that Mike was released from police custody with a citation, even before routine records checks had been completed.
"I directed that he, for him to be released with a cite-back. So every discretion, I believe at this juncture, was exercised. And I stand by our officers' actions on this," Moore told the Board of Police Commissioners.
Several law enforcement sources told the I-Team that a female security guard made a private person's, or citizen's, arrest after she said Mike and a companion sidestepped a security checkpoint and knocked her to the ground twice.
"This individual, is alleged to have committed a battery in the sense of his zeal, his insistence, that he be allowed to move throughout that location at some pace or speed," Moore told the Commission.
"And he felt, to my understanding of the allegation, is that he could knock a security guard to the ground to effect what he desired," he said.
The guard, who's identity was not publicly released, was treated at the scene for injuries by LA Fire Department personnel.
Moore also explained to the Commissioners that officers were obligated under state law to carry out the detention, but it was the security guard who made the arrest.
Commissioner Rasha Gerges Shields raised concerns about the officers' conduct and whether or not the guard could have had ulterior motives in demanding an arrest.
"Frankly I have a very hard time believing that Taylor Swift would have been treated in the same way," she said.
"Regardless of race, if this was Taylor Swift, I assure you that the actions of these officers are absolutely in response to the state law that requires it," Moore answered.
