Crime

Tekashi 6ix9ine will be absent from social media in the last couple weeks before he regains his freedom -- but he says he's coming back with a vengeance.

6ix9ine tells TMZ ... he just temporarily deactivated his Instagram account ahead of his home confinement ending around August 1. The reason? He says his lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, recommended it for the rapper's safety, so he's following through.

Tekashi says as freedom nears, his legal team thinks he might mistakenly leak some crucial info about his whereabouts, meaning where he is now or where he'll be next ... once he's cut loose. We're told Tekashi's team hasn't quite decided on that yet, but out of an abundance of caution they're advising he go dark for a while as they figure out that next move.

Not shockingly, Tekashi says he'll be back to trolling his haters soon enough, and insists he will NOT leaving his hometown of NYC. We're told one of his lawyers feels he should reconsider ... so the matter is still up in the air.

At any rate, 6ix9ine tells us he plans to keep roaming the streets of the Big Apple -- but adds he'll be rolling "like Trump" in that he'll have a ton of armed guards around. Specifically, he says he plans to hire 22 of them, all former law enforcement officers.

Tekashi also says he's gonna have 5 bulletproof SUV-like whips to escort him around town. Despite all those heavy duty precautions ... he insists he has "no fear" and is actually excited to get out and about again.

As for how these final days of home confinement will go ... Lazzaro says the feds will continue to drug test him, advise him and monitor his activity.

7/13 -- Allentown PD just released surveillance video from the incident, which cops say was captured from across the street.

In the video, you see the moment cops and the man fall to the ground and the ensuing struggle, plus the cop putting his knee to the man's neck and eventually taking it off.

7/13 -- The Allentown Police Department announced there's an investigation into this incident being reviewed by the Lehigh County D.A.'s Office, and the department's also conducting an internal investigation over use of force. The D.A. has also assigned 2 county detectives to the investigation.

Allentown PD says part of the investigation will include reviewing the video posted on social media, witness statements and additional videos of the interaction.

Allentown PD says this all began when APD officers observed a male outside a hospital who was vomiting and staggering on the street. They say the erratic behavior resulted in cops and hospital staff interacting with the individual, who began to yell, scream and spit at officers and hospital staff.

Cops say, "as the officers attempted to restrain the individual, all parties fell to the ground." They say the individual continued to be noncompliant which required officers to restrain the individual. The man was escorted to a hospital for treatment and later released.

The D.A.'s office is expected to issue a statement when its review is complete later this week.

A Pennsylvania city is the latest to deal with the outrage over cops holding a man down with a knee to the neck ... and the incident was captured on video, quite by accident.

A man was driving on a street in Allentown Saturday afternoon when he saw cops trying to subdue a man. A few seconds into the video you see an officer in the same position that killed George Floyd and others.

The man recording the incident says what he's watching makes it clear ... black lives don't matter to these cops.

Famed Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump was among the outraged, saying, "Allentown Police held down this man's face to the pavement and then one of its officers placed their knee on his neck!! This happened yesterday and is exactly what led to #GeorgeFloyd's death.  We need this officers name and bade# NOW #ICantBreathe."

The police dept. recently banned the use of chokeholds and other neck restraints, so at the very least this would seem to violate department policy.

Protests erupted in the area -- organized by Black Lives Matter -- once the video was posted on social media. The Mayor and Police Chief showed up to keep the peace.

It's unclear why police were trying to subdue the man. Police have not released any details, including the man's condition.

The 2 men and 2 teens who allegedly killed Pop Smoke have been slapped with murder charges, and while the death penalty is in play ... prosecutors haven't decided yet to seek it.

The L.A. County District Attorney's Office announced criminal charges against 19-year-old Corey Walker and 18-year-old Keandre Rodgers, who were each charged with murder with special circumstance allegations that the killing went down during the commission of a robbery and burglary.

With the special circumstances, the death penalty is on the table. The D.A.'s Office adds that gang and gun allegations were made in their complaint as well.

On top of those two, a separate pair of teenagers -- the youngest being 15 and the oldest 17 -- were also charged with one count of murder and robbery in juvenile court. Their names weren't released, as they're still minors.

We broke the story ... Pop Smoke was shot and killed back in February by 4 masked gunmen after what appeared to be a home invasion robbery at his home Hollywood Hills home.

Even though the D.A.'s Office says they haven't decided on whether to pursue capital punishment yet, both adult men face still face life in prison if convicted.

Amy Cooper -- AKA Central Park "Karen" -- isn't off the hook for making a false report against a man who asked her to leash her dog, despite the fact he doesn't want her prosecuted ... TMZ has learned.

As we reported ... the Manhattan D.A. announced this week his office initiated a prosecution against Cooper for Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Third Degree ... this, for the May 25 incident in which she called police claiming, "There's an African-American man threatening my life."

That man -- Christian Cooper (no relation), a birdwatcher -- made headlines shortly afterward when he said ... "She's already paid a steep price. That's not enough of a deterrent to others? Bringing her more misery just seems like piling on."

Amy was fired from her job and briefly lost custody of her dog after the video of her incident with Christian went viral.

So, Christian says if the Manhattan D.A. wants to pursue charges against Amy, that's his right ... but he will not be involved in the prosecution.

Well, TMZ's learned ... that's exactly what will happen. We're told the D.A.'s Office would like Christian to cooperate, but in this case, it's not necessary -- because he's technically not the victim ... it's the city. Besides, there's a smoking gun -- the video.

We reached out to the D.A.'s office ... it had no comment, other than to confirm Amy's scheduled to appear in court in October for her arraignment.

Here's a good look at the "Karen" who went on multiple racist tirades in Southern California last month ... mugging for her booking photo.

TMZ's obtained the mug shots for Lena Hernandez, who, as we told you, was charged with criminal battery last week. It's unclear why cops snapped more than one pic of Hernandez, as there's only one charge.

It took a while after a warrant for her arrest was issued, but Hernandez was eventually located by police in the SoCal beach city of San Pedro and hauled into the station.

Her battery charges are related to an incident that occurred Oct. 11 at a mall in Torrance. Though there is no video of that incident, there is video of 2 separate incidents where the woman hurled racist comments.

The Black man who says he was nearly lynched on the 4th of July has mixed feelings about the feds taking up his case -- because he doubts they truly care.

We spoke to Vauhxx Booker -- the alleged victim of a hate crime, who was pinned to a tree by white men, one of whom he claims threatened to "get a noose" -- and he says the FBI deciding to investigate is probably more about public pressure than wanting justice.

The reason he feels that way ... Vauhxx says the guys who allegedly attacked him last weekend are still not in custody, despite some pretty damn compelling video evidence.

ICYMI ... Vauhxx was at Lake Monroe near Bloomington, Indiana with 5 of his white friends, crossing a trail in the woods to catch an eclipse.

They came across this group of white guys on ATVs -- one of whom Vauhxx says was wearing a Confederate flag hat, while another allegedly cried out "white power." Vauhxx says they told him and his friends to scram because they were on private property.

When they refused to leave, it escalated into what you see here. Vauhxx sincerely believes he would've been hanged if his friends didn't intervene, but he's less thankful about how local cops dealt with the situation.

He tells us the officer ended up lecturing him about property rights, instead of arresting the men for allegedly trying to murder him. As a result, he says he's lost faith in the system ... but still wants his day in court.

The driver who plowed into protesters on a Seattle freeway, killing one and seriously injuring another, was just charged with vehicular homicide.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office filed new charges Wednesday against Dawit Kelete for the fatal crash, which happened in the early hours of July 4 on a stretch of the I-5 that was closed to traffic.

Kelete is charged with vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and reckless driving. He is in jail after prosecutors asked a judge to hold him on $1.2 million bail.

Prosecutors say Kelete, who was initially arrested and charged with 2 counts of vehicular assault, could be hit with additional charges pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation being conducted by the State Patrol and FBI. His initial charges were upgraded Wednesday because one of the protesters died after the incident.

24-year old Summer Taylor is the protester who died later that night in the hospital. The other protester who was injured, Diaz Love, remains in the ICU in serious condition.

A Black NYPD cop recorded himself making fun of societal calls for police to be more cautious during arrests -- and while he and his buddies thought it was hilarious ... D.L. Hughley says this guy's part of the problem.

The officer, whose video's been reposted on social media, does an impersonation of how he thinks cops are expected to act and carry themselves post-George Floyd.

Long story short ... he's basically doing the most to make it seem like cops have no power or authority anymore, and that they have to be totally soft on criminals they encounter.

The officer improv'd an entire skit for friends, presumably cops, who you can hear laughing in the background. He acts out making an arrest while taking extra care not to offend the suspect or handle them roughly.

D.L. found the video and reposted it himself, condemning the officer as delusional for his take.

He writes, "I guess he forgot that w/out that uniform he’s a #BLACKMAN in #America." D.L. continues ... "The delusion that, that uniform affords you the same privileges as your white counterparts, will probably catch up to your goofy ass one day. Ignorance is bliss and in cases like this, IT’S ALSO DANGEROUS!! YOU, OFFICER, ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!!"

George Floyd was startled by cops when they first arrived on the scene that led to his death ... because he claimed he'd been shot before.

Thomas Lane -- one of the former officers charged in Floyd's death -- is seeking to have his charges dismissed ... and included transcripts from bodycam footage as evidence.

The transcripts are from 2 body-worn cameras -- Lane's and his codefendant, J. Alexander Kueng -- and they show Floyd seemingly unsettled as Lane approached, briefly drew his weapon and told Floyd to show his hands.

According to the transcript, Floyd said ... "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. God dang man. Man, I got shot. I got shot the same way, Mr. Officer, before."

Lane then asked a woman who was in the car with Floyd why he was "getting all squirrelly" and not showing his hands right away, and "just being all weird like that?" ... to which the woman suggested maybe "because he's been shot before."

The transcript from Kueng's camera reveals he then helped escort Floyd from his vehicle across the street to sit down, at which time Floyd thanked him and gave his ID info then said ... "I got shot last time, same thing, man."

Kueng then informed Floyd he was being detained on suspicion of passing a fake bill, which led to a struggle by Kueng and Lane to get him into the back of a squad car ... which eventually led to him going to the ground and Derek Chauvin's involvement, as seen in the notorious video.

According to the transcript, while Floyd was on the ground, one of the officers said ... "Man, you going to die of a heart attack. Just get in the car."

As they continued to restrain Floyd on the ground, Lane asked, "Should we get his legs up?" ... but was shut down by Chauvin and Kueng. As the officers continued to debate whether Floyd was high on something, Floyd continued to plead that he couldn't breathe, saying ... "I can't breathe. Please, your knee on my neck. I can't breathe, sh*t."

According to the Kueng transcript, Floyd's final words were "I can't breathe," followed by "Please sir, please" and a final "Please." At this point, Lane asked if they should move him on his side but was again told no by Chauvin, who added ... "That's why we got the ambulance coming." Lane responded, "Okay, I suppose," but later expressed concern Floyd was about to pass out.

Lane filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss the charges against him -- aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter Wednesday -- arguing he "did not intentionally aid, advise, hire, counsel, or conspire with [Derek] Chauvin or otherwise procure Chauvin to commit second-degree murder."

It's impossible to make sense of the brutal, random act of violence against a 12-year-old dancing in the street, but humanity's shining through to help out the victim.

The tough kid's name is Ethan, and his mother, Stephanie Hagler, tells TMZ ... more than 400 people -- family, friends and strangers alike -- have raised more than $14,000 so far to cover his medical bills and more.

Ethan's mom says the remainder of the money raised will go toward his tuition at the Fingerprint Urban Dance Studio, in Cape Girardeau, MO for the next several years. The studio will get some improvements too -- like a new security system -- and Ethan wants to put some cash toward its annual festival.

As for his health, Stephanie tells us her son's still shaken up over the assault, and fearful to perform. She says he's afraid someone out there may try to hurt him again, and the disturbing ordeal is requiring daily therapy sessions.

Ethan's also dealing with the effects of a concussion -- dizziness and headaches -- but his mom says the "overwhelming support from friends and community members has been making Ethan feel better." We're told folks have been bringing him gifts, as well ... including a painting by one of his friend's parents.

As we reported ... Ethan was with his dance instructor, Micheal Curry, Friday night when he was sucker punched by a man police ID'd as Cedric Charles Moore Jr. -- who's been charged with felony assault and felony child endangerment for the attack. Cops are still searching for him.

Curry, who recorded the video of the assault and is the owner of Fingerprint, tells us his group of dance kids is hitting pause on all street performances for now.

However, Curry says he and Ethan are scheduled to perform a DJ set at a local joint in August ... and he hopes it will help Ethan regain his confidence, while giving the community an opportunity to show support.

He says he's worked with Ethan for 4 years, and he's thankful for the support they've already gotten -- but his main focus is helping his kids regain their trust in humanity.

WWE superstar Matt Riddle is acknowledging he had an affair with pro wrestler Candy Cartwright -- but adamantly denies her sexual assault allegations in a new video.

"I’m gonna make this quick. I have never in my entire life sexually assaulted a man, woman or anybody," Riddle said ... "And that includes Samantha Tavel (aka Candy Cartwright). I never sexually assaulted you."

As we previously reported, Cartwright -- a pro wrestler on the indy circuit -- claimed Riddle forced her to perform oral sex on him during a 2018 van ride with other wrestlers.

Riddle says the allegations are BS.

"The story about that van trip, and the driver being asleep, and me forcing you to do stuff and hop on whatever is a complete lie. It’s a fabricated story because you’re still mad."

Riddle says Cartwright is upset because "we had an affair" -- which he then broke off.

"It’s embarrassing because I feel like a real piece of crap cheating on my wife and doing that, and now having to talk about it publicly."

"We had a relationship. We had a fling. I started to get sad and depressed because I was lying to my wife so much to hide what I was doing. I was lying to all my friends because I didn’t want anybody to know, because it’s not something cool. I didn’t want to brag about it. I tried to end it."

"I told my wife about you and us. I tried to end it. I blocked you, I blocked your social media."

Riddle claims Cartwright tried to continue the relationship despite his efforts to stop it -- and claims she couldn't handle the rejection so she made-up allegations about him.

"At the end of the day, I’m not perfect. I did have an affair, and I’m not happy about it. But, I never sexually abused anybody, I never sexually assaulted anybody. And when I wanted to get out of this relationship, out of this situation, she said no and she kept pursuing me and harassing me and stalking me. And then, when she didn’t get her way, she used the Speak Out movement to try to ruin my career."

The feds in R. Kelly's case want to keep potential jurors protected -- even by armed guards, at times, because they feel Kelly's legal team poses a threat to jurors, but the singer's team's not having it.

The feds filed legal docs in the Eastern District of NY requesting the jurors remain anonymous and partially sequestered because they fear Kelly's team could mess with the jurors.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, the feds say they want the jurors' identities, addresses and places of employment to be kept under wraps from the defense and prosecutors. They also want the U.S. Marshals to escort the jury in and out of the courthouse, and make the jurors eat lunch together so they're not bombarded by intense media coverage.

The feds insist the jurors' identities are not crucial to the jury selection process and argue "these measures are necessary to safeguard the jurors and the fair administration of process."

The prosecution claims Kelly and his associates have previously attempted to obstruct justice ... calling Kelly "the leader of a racketeering enterprise he created and used for decades to sexually abuse and exploit women and girls for his own sexual gratification, including through the use of bribery, kidnapping and forced labor." The judge has yet to sign off on the government's request.

Remember, the government in the past has contended Kelly "has a history of coercing women to write letters containing false and embarrassing allegations" so he can later use them as blackmail.

R. Kelly's lawyer, Steven Greenberg, tells TMZ ... he's all for the Marshals walking the jury in and out of the courthouse saying, "They don't have to put up with [the] circus of outside influences and agitators like the Weinstein jurors."

But, he also says, "It's absurd not to know where people are from or what kind of employment they are engaging in. Those are essential things to understand -- how people think and view things. Imagine if there's an FBI agent on the jury or a district attorney or someone who works for a battered woman's shelter. The stuff about Kelly tampering and being dangerous is just a regurgitation of their same argument which we disagreed with all along."

Netflix's revival of "Unsolved Mysteries" might need to change its name to "Case Closed" -- because the team's getting inundated with new leads that may very well crack some of these cases.

The show's original creator, Terry Dunn Meurer, is once again heading up the rebooted series ... and she tells TMZ that skyrocketing popularity and renewed interest has yielded some actual tips she and her team believe could lead to more clues -- or, in some cases, arrests.

Terry says 'Unsolved' has received upwards of 1,500 tips over their 6 new episodes up on the streaming service -- and of those ... she tells us about 50 were flagged as possibly legit and forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

And, get this ... she says the one that is most likely to get buttoned up first is the case of Alonzo Brooks ... who disappeared from a Kansas party in the early 2000s.

If you're unfamiliar ... 22-year-old Alonzo and a group of friends went to a party in rural Kansas, where he ended up being the only black guy there among what's described as a bunch of rednecks and cowboy types ... with one of whom he almost fought.

His pals eventually dispersed -- and Alonzo never made it home. A month later, his body was found in a creek. He'd been murdered.

The killing was considered a hate crime, but investigators could never link it to anyone -- the case went unsolved for years. Terry, however, says that could change soon -- as her crew has forwarded names to the FBI ... which recently reopened his case.

Here's another thing -- one uber-popular installment in the new 'Unsolved' series chronicles the supposed suicide of Rey Rivera ... whom many fans speculate might have planned and carried out his own death after the '90s flick, "The Game," and its famous rooftop jump scene.

The scumbag who sucker punched a 12-year-old boy dancing on a sidewalk has been charged with 2 felonies, but cops are still searching for him.

Cedric Charles Moore Jr. has been charged with felony assault in the second degree and felony child endangerment in the first degree due to the age of the victim and the violence of the act ... according to cops in Cape Girardeau, MO.

Cops say they were able to ID Moore after seeing video footage of the unprovoked attack that went down Friday a little after 11:30 PM. Cape Girardeau PD says officers have been to Moore's home and various other locations he is known to frequent, but they're getting no cooperation from the his friends and family.

When they do find him, Moore's bail's already set at $50k cash only.

Cops also released Moore's mug shot from a 2017 booking in hopes the public can help locate his whereabouts.

And, then there's this ... the CGPD says the public's "understandably expressed a desire to see Moore charged with a hate crime" but they say "this charge would only apply if the assault was categorized to a lesser degree, which would not be in the best interest of seeking true justice for the victim."

A pair of Trump supporters quickly ruined the work of residents in a Bay Area town that got the OK to paint a Black Lives Matter mural -- and now, cops would like a word.

This went down Saturday in the city of Martinez, CA -- where a large mural reading "BLM" was stenciled and filled in with paint by the people there in front of their local courthouse -- something city officials approved and even advertised as a community-led holiday event.

The painting of the mural was scheduled from 9 AM to 3 PM, but not too long after folks there finished up the job ... these two boneheads rolled up and did a paint job of their own.

The woman here -- who appeared to be rocking a MAGA-themed shirt -- started applying black paint over the letters with a roller ... she began with the B and then moved on to the L in a sloppy rush -- as people around them started to film and get in their face about it.

She had a man with her who was definitely wearing Trump 2020 gear -- and he was standing by and filming the encounter himself, getting into shouting matches with bystanders and telling them they were brainwashed, and that racism was a liberal hoax. Seriously ...

The witnesses got footage of their truck as well as their license plate. Eventually, the couple scrammed before they could finish their defacement ... things were getting heated.

Now, Martinez Police says they're looking for these two and plan to arrest them for defacing the mural ... which, again, was a city-sanctioned thing. Sounds like they might be facing a simple vandalism charge -- the cops were hesitant to call this a hate crime quite yet.

And, of course, Twitter was quick to label them the newest "Karen" and "Kevin" -- but we'll just resort to calling them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbass. Probably more accurate.

Amy Cooper -- the notorious Central Park "Karen" who called the police to lie and say a black man was attacking her -- is now facing criminal prosecution for it.

Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance Jr. just announced his office has initiated a prosecution of Cooper for "Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Third Degree."

Cooper has been issued a court date for October, and Vance added ... "I would like to encourage anyone who has been the target of false reporting to contact our Office. We are strongly committed to holding perpetrators of this conduct accountable."

As you'll recall ... Amy retaliated against a black man named Christian Cooper (no relation) back on Memorial Day after he, a bird watcher, complained that her dog was off-leash ... in violation, he felt, of a law requiring dogs to be on-leash in Central Park from 9 AM to 9 PM.

Her response, which Christian caught on video, was to threaten to call NYPD and "tell them there's an African-American man threatening my life" ... and she did.

The vid went viral, and despite Amy issuing an apology, she was fired from her job at Franklin Templeton ... which stated, "We do not tolerate racism of any kind."

Amy also briefly lost custody of her rescue dog seen in the video but got it back 10 days later after it was evaluated by a vet and found to be in good health.