Arrests

The guy who led cops on a wild chase that landed on Rick Ross' front door has died while in custody.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation tells TMZ ... 40-year-old Chaka Stewart was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday at the Clayton County Jail in Georgia. We're told a guard and a medic who were making the evening rounds noticed Stewart lying there, and they attempted life-saving measures when they realized something was seriously wrong.

We're told he was pronounced dead at the jail. Our law enforcement sources say Stewart was alone in his cell, and no foul play is suspected. An autopsy is underway to figure out what happened.

Stewart's mother, Jacqueline Gordon, confirmed her son is the man who was arrested outside Rick's Georgia estate last week -- where cops say he crashed his truck and was carrying a firearm ... only to finally be apprehended at gunpoint following what was described as a crazy pursuit through the streets.

She says she last spoke to her son Friday, and claims he told her he was being mistreated behind bars. Gordon alleges Stewart said he was being beaten -- unclear if he was blaming officials or other folks behind bars -- wasn't allowed to shower and was confined to his cell for 23 hours a day.

Gordon also claims one of the deputies told Stewart he'd never be getting out of there ... while also asserting Georgia authorities have been ducking her and her inquiries.

Jack Harlow is finally speaking out about the fatal Louisville nightclub shooting for which his DJ's been indicted for murder -- and his first words are ones of sorrow and regret for the victim.

The rapper shared his thoughts Wednesday about the chaos he was smack in the middle of 2 weeks ago on the eve of the Kentucky Derby ... violence that led to a grand jury indicting his DJ, Ronnie Luciano.

Jack says, "My heart is broken by the events that occurred over Derby weekend. My heart breaks for Kasmira, her children, and everyone else touched by this tragic death."

He goes on to explain that he's been in touch with Kasmira's family, who've apparently been pretty receptive to talking. Jack adds, "Nothing can reverse what happened. Too many lives have been changed forever. My life will remain committed to making Louisville a better place."

As we reported, Ronnie turned himself in Tuesday after the grand jury indictment for his alleged role in the shooting.

It appears that Kasmira -- the 37-year-old woman who was killed -- was the one shown in our video ... which captured the moment a gunshot went off and sent everyone scrambling, including Jack, who was close to the action.

Josh Duggar's just been hit with charges of receiving and possessing child pornography following his arrest by federal agents in Arkansas.

According to the legal docs, the "19 Kids and Counting" star knowingly received child porn in mid-May 2019. He's accused of knowingly possessing images of child pornography, including images of minors below the age of 12.

Duggar's been charged by indictment with receiving and possessing child pornography -- one count each. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years of imprisonment and fines up to $250,000.00 on each count.

He's been ordered to forfeit any material related to the case to authorities, including turning over any and all computer equipment.

Duggar appeared before the judge at the Western District of Arkansas Federal Court from jail via Zoom, where he entered a plea of not guilty on all counts.

A court hearing's set for next week to determine if Duggar will be granted bond release, but he's to remain in custody until then. The judge ruled if bond is granted ... Duggar will be required to stay with a third-party custodian, and that person can't have unsupervised minors in the home.

His trial is scheduled for July.

We broke the story ... Duggar was arrested Thursday by the feds in Washington County, and was being held in a detention center without bail.

The reality star's mug shot, obtained by TMZ, showed him posing with a strange smirk on his face.

As we reported ... Homeland Security agents visited the Arkansas car dealership where he worked back in November 2019, raiding his office in connection to a federal probe.

Duggar's legal counsel Justin Gelfand, Travis W. Story and Greg Payne, tell us, "Josh Duggar has been charged in a two-count indictment. He has pled not guilty to both charges and we intend to defend this case aggressively and thoroughly."

Famous Dex stole an expensive timepiece, and then made up a story about getting robbed to cover his tracks ... at least that's the alleged watch owner's story.

The rapper is being sued by a man who claims Dex agreed to advertise the guy's luxury watch on social media -- but in a lawsuit he's filed, the guy says his first meeting with the rapper went south quickly.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, he handed over the timepiece so Dex could check it out and take pictures for social media posts. He says it was all good until Dex drove off with it and went radio silent.

In the suit, he claims Famous Dex contacted him later, and claimed 4 men robbed him and took the watch. He's not buying that, and claims the robbery is BS -- he believes Dex still has the timepiece. According to the suit, he says he saw it on Dex's Instagram, and that Dex tried to sell it to a jeweler.

TMZ broke the story ... Dex even reported the alleged robbery to cops last month, telling them the crooks jacked a $50,000 watch and cash at gunpoint.

But, the plaintiff claims he was there when Dex talked to police, and somehow HE actually got handcuffed and detained for a while. He wasn't charged, but now he's suing Dex for at least $90,000 in damages.

All police body cam videos of Andrew Brown Jr.'s fatal encounter with cops in North Carolina will be viewed, but only by his family and not the media ... a judge just ruled.

The Pasquotank County judge just made the highly-anticipated and controversial decision after hearing arguments for the release of police video in the case of Brown's killing ... in which an autopsy revealed he was shot 5 times.

The judge ruled the footage should be available to the family within 10 days, but also ordered that the faces of any deputies and other identifying information in the video be blurred. The judge will reevaluate making it available to more eyes in 30-45 days.

As we reported ... Brown's family says it was one bullet to the back of his head that killed him, and the findings of the private autopsy released Tuesday show he also suffered 4 gunshot wounds to his right arm.

Brown's family and their legal team have been calling for the release of the full police body cam footage from last week's fatal shooting, claiming he was gunned down in an "execution" while cops were trying to execute a search warrant.

So far, the family says they've only seen a "snippet" of police body cam ... just 20 seconds of one deputy's body cam with the faces blurred of other deputies on the scene.

The family claims what they did see only confirms their belief Brown was murdered by cops. Since his killing, peaceful protests and demonstrations in Elizabeth City have continued daily ... with the mayor there declaring a state of emergency.

The Academy Awards are being held at a famous L.A. train station this year -- and while that might satisfy COVID needs ... it's also become a dangerous place for the Oscars crew.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... a man was arrested Sunday morning at Union Station, where the Oscars are set to take place later this evening. We're told the guy tried running past security and breaking into a secured area ... and even pushed past a guard.

Our sources say the dude was detained by security ... and was eventually booked for battery by the LAPD. It might sound like an isolated incident and just a one-off ... but we're hearing that's far from the reality ... there was at least one other violent run-in this week.

We've heard that as crew members were setting up for the big award show over the past several days ... one of those people was actually mugged by somebody in the area. Sources close to the production tell us the guy ended up getting jacked ... and the suspect fled.

It's unclear if that person was caught or not -- but it's just another example of why it might've not have been the greatest idea to host the Oscars at Union Station this year.

Our law enforcement sources tell us this is, indeed, a high-crime area -- Union Station's right in the heart of DTLA -- and sketchy stuff like this goes down often. With more foot traffic than usual ... we're told that could naturally lead to more targets, which is exactly what appears to have happened.

The 3 cops criminally charged for not stopping Derek Chauvin from murdering George Floyd may have gotten the attention of a couple of California cops, because they stepped in and stopped a fellow officer who pretty clearly crossed the line by punching a woman.

Three cops in the O.C. were detaining and/or arresting a woman Wednesday when one of the officers landed a couple of right hooks to her face -- something that sure seemed unnecessary and excessive ... The other 2 cops clearly felt their colleague crossed the line ... they stepped in and stopped their partner from landing more blows, pushing the cop off the handcuffed woman.

It's fair to wonder if some officers are changing their behavior in the wake of Chauvin's trial.

As you know, the 3 officers who stood by and watched Chauvin choke the life out of George Floyd -- Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao -- are facing criminal charges for not intervening.

A rep for the department tells us they're aware of the video and they're investigating the incident.

A Grand Rapids cop punched a Black man in the face at least 6 times during his arrest that was, at least initially, for littering ... according to the police.

The video comes from body cam footage of a March 26 incident in Michigan where Grand Rapids PD officers pulled over Diabate Hood. According to reports, Hood had 2 other men in the car with him, but he refused to step out like his passengers.

The full video shows Hood apparently trying to flee from cops by jumping from the driver's seat and sliding out the passenger side door, but 3 officers immediately pounced on him ... and that's where the violence begins.

As you can see ... Hood is being held down by the 3 cops, and one begins delivering several blows to his face. As he screams, the other officers can be heard yelling "stop resisting." Moments later, Hood claims he can't breathe as officers hold him down.

According to Grand Rapids police ... the traffic stop was part of its Operation: Safe Neighborhoods program in response to an uptick of violent crime in the area, and claim they had "timely and accurate intelligence" to justify it.

In fact, Grand Rapids PD Chief Eric Payne says ... "This is the police work that I expect from my personnel." It's unclear if he's referring to the seemingly unnecessary punches that were thrown -- but the department claims they did find 4 weapons in Hood's vehicle. So, the littering stop turned into 3 felony arrests.

But, Tyrone Bynum, the lawyer for the 3 men arrested in this incident, claims the cops had no right to ask the men to get out of the car in the first place ... and seems to be gearing up to take legal action.

The NYPD made the point traffic stops can go south fast -- but in doing so, they appear to have confused H2O for a harmful substance ... that's what the Internet's saying, anyway.

The department's news division posted a video Saturday that shows body cam footage of an NYPD officer making a "routine traffic stop" as they dubbed it. The cop asks for license/registration, and then the man gets out of the car ... to the confusion of the officer.

Before you know it, the guy chucks some type of liquid into the cop's mug, who stumbles back ... clearly shocked by what just happened. You hear his partner seem to ask what it was he threw, but then the video cuts out before you can see what happens next.

Now, NYPD claims this suspect doused the cop with a "chemical" before fleeing, tossing a Molotov cocktail ... before finally being arrested. They add the officer wasn't hurt.

Internet sleuths quickly attempted to pick this apart, however, and pulled screen grabs from the moment this guy threw whatever it was into the cop's face ... and at first glance, they're saying it looks an awful lot like a cup full of ice water without a lid or top -- nothing more.

Unclear if that is, in fact, what it was ... but to us, it does look like agua. Technically, that is a "chemical" in that it's made up of elements from the periodic table ... but the police make it seem like bleach or something that was tossed here. The NYPD hasn't elaborated.

Folks are also questioning their "Molotov cocktail" description ... wondering if it was actually what you'd consider a traditional bottle firebomb, or if it was just the container seen in this video. The NYPD posted an additional photo of what they say is a Molotov cocktail recovered from a traffic stop, but they don't directly connect it to this suspect/sitch here.

We've reached out to the NYPD for clarification ... so far, no word back.

Homeowners in Army Sgt. Jonathan Pentland's neighborhood are worried they're gonna end up suffering because he decided to confront a Black man walking on his block.

An official for the HOA at The Summit -- the South Carolina community where the incident went down -- tells TMZ ... residents are very concerned over the ongoing demonstrations going on outside Pentland's home.

Protestors have gathered there since Wednesday when the video of Pentland harassing the man went viral.

We're told Pentland's neighbors are on edge about crowds spilling over into their yards and ruining the grass -- and they've been running to the HOA and cops to complain about crowded streets and sidewalks.

The vibe is folks are angry they have to deal with the mess Pentland created. In fact, we're told the sergeant, who was arrested for the altercation and subsequently suspended by the Army, hasn't even been back to his home since he got busted.

We're also told the guy Pentland went after does indeed live in The Summit, as he said in the video.

Interestingly, the HOA says the majority of residents at The Summit are minorities -- and while they, and the HOA, don't condone Pentland's actions, they're still concerned about potential property damage.

We're told the HOA's been flooded with hate mail from non-residents since the video became a national story.

A white man who is a U.S. Army sergeant saw a Black man he didn't recognize strolling through his neighborhood, and decided to get in his face about it ... but we've learned the sergeant's been arrested over the incident.

42-year-old Jonathan Pentland -- reportedly based at Fort Jackson in Columbia, SC -- was recorded aggressively confronting the young Black man, and even shoving him around in the suburb of Summit Monday evening.

The Black guy kept his cool, and said he was just passing through ... doing nothing else but walking. Pentland and others recording the altercation continued to press him -- accusing him of lingering around their home and surrounding streets for 15 minutes.

As for what triggered this altercation ... the Richland County Sheriff's Office says calls initially came in describing an altercation going down. Once officers arrived and did a preliminary investigation, RCSO says they learned the alleged victim here was supposedly going around and approaching different neighbors in what they described as a threatening manner. Eventually, they say someone asked Pentland to step in ... and things picked up there.

RCSO notes that when officers first responded, they were not aware of nor did they see this video. However, after the clip eventually went viral ... the agency says they passed their findings to a judge, who found sufficient evidence to bring Pentland in on an arrest warrant.

The Sheriff's Office also says this of the alleged victim ... he apparently has an underlying medical condition that might've affected his behavior that day, and the authorities are working to get him the help he needs, while trying to keep him out of the criminal justice system.

The young man claimed to live near this area ... but no word yet if that's, in fact, the case.

In any event, Pentland ended up getting arrested early Wednesday morning over the altercation. We've confirmed he was booked on assault and battery charges. It's unclear if he's still in custody.

Fort Jackson officials also commented on the widely-circulated video, saying ... "This type of behavior is not consistent with our Army values and will not be condoned. We have begun our own investigation and are working with the local authorities."

'Real Housewives of Salt Lake City' star Jen Shah helped support the lavish lifestyle she flaunts on the show through wire fraud and a massive telemarketing scheme ... at least according to the feds, who arrested her Tuesday.

According to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY ... Shah and Stuart Smith -- who's portrayed as her assistant on the reality series -- generated and sold "lead lists" of innocent people who could be targeted for their nationwide scam for about 9 years.

The feds say many of those targeted were "vulnerable, often elderly, working-class people" who were duped by the promise of business opportunities involving Shah, Smith and their alleged co-conspirators.

Both Shah and Stuart were arrested in Salt Lake City and will appear in federal court later Tuesday.

They are each charged with 1 count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing through which they victimized 10 or more persons over the age of 55. The maximum penalty for that charge is 30 years.

In addition ... they've also been hit with 1 count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

According to the feds ... Shah and Stuart allegedly targeted and defrauded hundreds of victims before being busted by the NYPD, Homeland Security and other law enforcement officials in a joint effort.

On the debut season of 'RHOSLC' ... Jen was often seen throwing tantrums, yelling and exhibiting explosive and volatile behavior. She's really got something to be pissed about now.

A trained MMA fighter who personally witnessed the death of George Floyd testified that officer Derek Chauvin used a "blood choke" during the arrest ... referring to the move as "torture."

33-year-old Donald Williams is a fighter out of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy in Brooklyn Center ... and has a 6-6 record, according to Tapology.

Williams appeared on the stand in a Minnesota courtroom to testify about what he saw on the day Floyd died ... and his explanation was almost identical to the analysis of UFC superstar Jon Jones, who spoke out in the days following the incident.

"One, the neck was diagonal across the throat, which on a blood choke you attack the side of the neck," Williams said.

"To get the choke tighter, you hit different shimmies, which I felt the officer on top was shimmying to actually get the final choke in while he was on top to get the kill choke."

"Because a side choke or a blood choke can ultimately turn into death, which is what we've seen here."

In fact, Williams is shown in body cam footage of Tou Thao -- one of the other officers involved in the incident -- where he begs them to check Floyd's pulse ... and says point-blank Chauvin is using a "blood choke."

As we previously reported, Jones described the move in detail ... saying, "I wouldn't wish the way George Floyd was murdered on my worst enemy. That officer applied just enough pressure to keep him alive for almost six minutes in that chokehold."

"In all my years of fighting, I can honestly say I’ve never experienced anything close to that level of torture."

Deshayla Harris -- one of the stars of 'Bad Girls Club' -- died after falling victim to one of several shootings that occurred in her home state ... TMZ has confirmed.

Virginia Beach PD confirmed Deshayla's ID Saturday as one of two fatalities resulting from three separate shootings from Friday night ... which appear to be unrelated, but happened within a short time of one another. The other victim is 25-year-old Donovan Lynch.

Cops say Deshayla was a bystander for the second shooting, in which a stray bullet from the crossfire hit her. Police do not believe this was a mass shooting -- simply shots fired erupting from feuding parties near the beachfront area of town, where all the resorts lie.

Deshayla is said to have died at the scene. Upwards of eight other people were injured from the shootings -- and police say they have 3 individuals in custody in connection to at least one of those. Ahmon Adams, Nyquez Baker and Devon Dorsey Jr. were arrested and charged with several different counts -- including assault, use and reckless handling of a firearm, among others. VBPD says none of these guys were involved in the shooting that killed Deshayla ... it's unclear if any suspects have been apprehended for that just yet.

Deshayla is known for her appearance on Season 17 of 'BGC' ... which was dubbed 'East Meets West.' They slugged her on the show as the Firecracker Fashionista. Deshayla was portrayed as feisty and a proud East Coaster. She was also a brawler -- getting into a memorable fight with another cast member, Francesca, after spitting in her face.

Despite the bad blood on the show, it appears some of her fellow costars sent their condolences on word that she'd been killed, including Key Marie who posted a tribute to Deshayla on Instagram.

She writes, "No matter how much I refused to talk to you...you never took no for an answer you popped up to my show just to prove fixing our friendship meant something to you 🥲 hardest part about losing you is I never fully forgave you 😫😔 I literally let that TV s*** stand between us building a connection outside of tv 😔🥲🥲🥲 you didn’t deserve this man this shit jus don’t feel real ....I’m sick affffff 🥲🥲 rest easy Babygirl "

Deshayla's final IG post from Friday appears to show her out and about in downtown Norfolk, VA -- which is a stone's throw away from where she was ultimately gunned down.

She was 28.

Miami Beach cops have 2 men in custody for allegedly drugging and raping a young woman who'd traveled there alone for spring break ... and cops say she was left for dead in her hotel.

24-year-old Christine Englehardt's body was found in her hotel room late last week after allegedly being carried up in a disoriented state by Dorian Taylor and Evoire Collier ... whom police say sexually assaulted her after drugging her.

Reports say police looked at surveillance footage, which allegedly shows the party of 3 walking into the hotel lobby at around 1 AM Thursday, with the 2 men holding Christine up by her neck as she staggered along. Cops say Collier and Taylor then left about an hour later, with some of Christine's property ... including credit cards, cash and her phone.

Collier and Taylor were eventually tracked down, arrested and booked on a number of charges -- including burglary with battery, sexual battery, petty theft and fraudulent use of a credit card. They have not been charged for her death.

Justin Bieber is back in L.A. after a break in the islands, and one of his first orders of business is telling prisoners about the big man upstairs ... TMZ has learned.

The singer's RV was spotted Tuesday pulling into the California State Prison of L.A. County -- which prompted the question ... what the heck is he doing there, especially on the heels of his Turks and Caicos weekend getaway with the missus???

The answer, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, is quite simple -- the Biebs was there to spread the good word.

A rep for the CDCR tells TMZ ... the warden of the state prison signed off on a brief visit for him and his pastor to support faith-based programs. Unclear what JB exactly did -- singing or speaking the gospel -- but we're told COVID protocols were followed to a T, and it all went smoothly.

If Justin was aiming for anonymity ... he definitely chose the wrong ride. That RV of his was a dead giveaway, as he and Hailey have been seen cruising all over the Western U.S. in it.