Rapper iHeartMemphis has been arrested for the third time in two months, facing multiple felony and misdemeanour charges after a foot chase through a residential neighbourhood in Plantation, Florida.
Officers responded to the area after reports that Richard Maurice Colbert, 32, was causing a disturbance. When they attempted to detain him, he fled on foot, entering several private homes before deputies, assisted by a helicopter and K-9 units from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, took him into custody.
The rapper had been placing traffic cones and tree branches in the road and refused to remove them when police arrived. According to court records, he was booked on February 18 and is facing three felony counts of unarmed burglary, along with misdemeanour charges of obstructing a public roadway and resisting officers without violence. A separate charge relating to earlier alleged written threats to kill remains part of his case.
Authorities noted that Colbert was posting to social media on his cellphone at the time of the incident, which violated the terms of his pretrial release from his previous arrest.
That earlier arrest came on February 10, when Plantation Police and a combined SWAT team apprehended Colbert after an hours-long standoff at his rented home, during which he was charged with written or electronic threats to kill and resisting an officer without violence.
The mother of his child told police she was concerned about his mental state, consistent with warnings his family had raised previously. Police records indicate officers had been called to his residence more than a dozen times in February alone for various disturbances.
Colbert has pleaded not guilty to all charges and requested a trial. A judge set his bond at $47,000. He is scheduled to appear in court on April 14.
iHeartMemphis rose to prominence in 2015 with the viral track “Hit the Quan,” which peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
