Legendary rapper Styles P is being hailed a hero after the Lox co-founder intervened following a confrontation between Yonkers, New York police officers and a Black woman outside the popular smoothie bar Juices for Life. The interaction was caught on tape by a nearby witness and has since gone viral, partly due to the rapper’s involvement.
“Yo! He’s a b-tch,” the 47-year-old business owner could be heard telling one of the officers before turning his attention to the woman on the ground, Bianca McCovery. “Yo, sista’, loosen up,” Styles could be heard telling the young woman in an apparent attempt to de-escalate the situation before redirecting his attention to the officer, yelling, “You’s a f-cking hoe. You’s a whole b-tch.”
An officer, who is white, soon approached the “We Gone Make It” emcee, but that didn’t stop him from yelling. “I’mma back up. Don’t touch me,” he said before shouting, “You slammed a girl! For no reason!”
“You scared, too!” he continued. “You slammed a girl for no reason, she’s on the floor! And you standing over there with your hand on your gun the whole time… You a b-tch… You had your hand on your gun for a female he slammed on the floor! Whole b-tch! You scared… you not from around here… and you scared of Black people!”
The incident reportedly occurred on Monday afternoon, July 11, outside the establishment co-owned by friends, the hip-hop star Styles and groupmate Jadakiss. The young woman had been there to pick up an Uber Eats order. However, authorities claimed she was driving her vehicle, a gas-powered moped, erratically before parking on the sidewalk.
The 34-year-old spoke to ABC 7 New York about the incident, telling reporters that after the office “slammed me on the floor, he check my bag, threw my stuff out my bag, checked my pockets, he wasn’t supposed to do that.”
Footage from the officers’ body camera showed them requesting a license and registration from the woman. She claimed to be looking up on her phone, but then quickly ran for it. McCovery is ultimately tackled to the ground.
When asked about the tactic used by the cops, Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza told the outlet he did not take issue with it, citing, “This happened at a point when she’s already fled, she’s already exhibited suspicious behavior; later on, we found out she had access to a knife on the moped.” He added, “So at that point, we have to take her down safely, and we have to take her down quickly.”
The woman ultimately admitted to running away but told the outlet, “I might have been wrong,” she said, for walking away from the officer, but claimed the unnamed officer “never told me I was arrested until he had me down on the floor.”
Some on social media applauded the “Good Times” rapper for defending a black woman, including one user who wrote, “Styles P is a Real Man for standing up for that sista against the police. This is the most “gangsta” thing you could ever do: be of service to another when injustice is in front of you.”
However, the emcee told ABC he regrets how he reacted toward the officers, but took issue with their approach.
“Those are two grown men; she’s a woman,” Styles said. “There has to be a way. I’m not even saying you have to put her on the floor; I don’t think you have to dump her like a sack of potatoes, though,” he added.
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