Plies expressed his frustration over the time it takes for police officers to get charged with crimes in an Instagram video. The veteran rapper bemoaned the slow process while pointing out how quickly someone living in the hood would face charges in a similar case.
“It don’t sit well with me,” Plies said. “With all the shootings that’s been going on with the police officers over the last couple of months … where it’s George Floyd, it took three weeks to a month for charges to get handed down. Ahmaud Arbery, it took weeks for charges to get handed down. Rayshard Brooks case, it’s taking time for charges to get handed down.
“And when I hear the lieutenant or the sergeant or the person over these cases continue to say, ‘We need y’all to be patient with us. We trying to get it right.’ But when somebody in the hood get accused of murder, you know the next day, at first appearance, 24 hours, you know what the charges is.”
Plies concluded, “So if y’all telling me it takes you weeks to a month to get it right with the officers, you clearly ain’t trying to get it right in the hood. ‘Cause we know our charges the next day. In some cases, the same night! So if you take weeks to get it right with them, but you take the next day in the hood, you clearly ain’t trying to get it right in the hood.”
Although Plies began his speech by referencing police shootings, it’s worth noting Floyd and Arbery didn’t die that way. Floyd was killed by cops but without a weapon involved. Arbery was shot and killed in an incident involving two civilians, although one of them was a former police officer.
Brooks, however, was the victim of police gun violence. He was shot and killed by an Atlanta cop on Friday (June 12).
Derek Chauvin, the since-fired Minneapolis police officer at the center of Floyd’s death, was arrested four days after killing the 46-year-old man with ties to the Houston Hip Hop collective Screwed Up Click.
He was initially charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, but Chauvin’s charges were later upgraded to second-degree murder on June 3. Three other former officers involved in Floyd’s death were charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael were arrested on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault in May, almost three months after the shooting of Arbery occurred.
Garrett Rolfe, the since-fired Atlanta cop who shot Brooks, faces 11 criminal charges including felony murder. He turned himself in on Thursday (June 18). Devin Brosnan, the other officer at the scene, also surrendered to police as he’s facing an aggravated assault charge in the case.