newsmakers

newsmakers

MC Hammer stopped for expired car registration

DUBLIN, Calif.

A sheriff’s department spokesman in northern California says a Dublin police officer stopped and then arrested MC Hammer because the ’90s rap star was driving a car with expired registration and refused to get out of the vehicle.

Lt. Herb Walters of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement issued Monday that Hammer was “very argumentative” with the officer during the traffic stop late Thursday. He says it’s unclear who owns the car.

Hammer eventually came out of the car and was arrested for investigation of obstructing an officer in the performance of his duties.

Hammer, who was born Stanley Burrell, has offered a different account, suggesting he was the victim of racial profiling. He tweeted Saturday that the officer asked him if he were on parole or probation and tried to pull him out through the car window.

Police: Boy’s rap videos are inappropriate

BROCKTON, Mass.

Police in Brockton, Mass., have asked state child-welfare officials to investigate possible child abuse or neglect in the case of a 9-year-old who appears in sexually suggestive rap videos.

Police said Monday they haven’t filed criminal charges or arrested the father of fourth-grader Luie Rivera Jr., who goes by the stage name Lil Poopy. A Department of Children and Families spokeswoman confirms that officials are investigating whether the boy is being properly cared for.

The videos show the boy slapping a woman’s buttocks, engaging in sexually suggestive dances and glorifying drug use and materialism.

Police started investigating after the local newspaper, The Enterprise, did a story on the boy.

The boy’s father, Luis Rivera, told the newspaper his son is acting and not doing anything wrong.

Vindicator wire services