Chicago South Side rapper Lil Reese’s Sunday arrest on a felony warrant is tied to a 2012 videotaped incident in which he purportedly beat and stomped a woman in her Champaign home, police said Monday.
Video of the attack went viral late last year, with thousands of people voicing outrage on social media over Lil Reese’s actions.
The rapper, whose real name is Tavares Taylor, 20, was arrested on the Champaign County warrant about 4 a.m. Sunday, when Chicago police found him sleeping in a car on the 4400 block of South Wells Street, according to Cook County court documents. The warrant charges him with felony trespass and mob action and misdemeanor battery.
The beating incident was reported to the Champaign Police Department on Oct. 25, “after a video of the incident was posted online and the suspect’s identity was disclosed,” police spokeswoman Rene Dunn.
Taylor appeared in Cook County Bond Court on Sunday. It was unclear as of noon Monday if or when he would be transferred to Champaign County.
The warrant paperwork states he is to be held in lieu of $100,000.
At 5:22 a.m. on Feb. 19, 2012, the 18-year-old woman returned to her apartment on the 2000 block of Moreland Boulevard after a night out with friends and found 20 to 25 people inside her residence, Dunn said in an email.
The woman suspected a family member had let the crowd inside, Dunn said.
Taylor was among those in the crowd and refused to leave when the woman asked, according to the victim’s account, Dunn said.
The woman and Taylor got into an argument and Taylor “pushed the victim multiple times and slapped her,” according to Dunn.
Taylor then threatened the woman and a fight ensued, Dunn said.
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