MANHATTAN — Rapper Meek Mill was arrested Thursday night for recklessly popping wheelies on an illegal dirt bike on the streets of Inwood after police saw his Instagram posts about it, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
The rapper, whose given name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, 30, was riding without a helmet, taillights or license plates through the neighborhood, which has long been had issues with reckless ATV and dirt bike riders, police and prosecutors said.
Mill and others posted footage of the escapades on Instagram, which police spotted and used to track him down, they said.
NYPD officer Joshua Cumberbatch saw Mill's videos showing the rapper popping wheelies "for extended periods of time" near other bikers, making right turns in a left-turn-only lane and changing lanes in front of oncoming traffic without signaling, according to the criminal complaint.
Police arrested Mill at 10th Avenue and Dyckman Street about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, police said.
Videos posted to social media appear to show the inside of a car the rapper had been riding in at the time of his arrest.
"What'd I do?" Mill asks in the video.
"You weren't riding around on a motorcycle yesterday?" an officer asks as police lights flash over the roof of the car.
"I've got pictures of you, I've got video of you running up and down, right?" the officer replies.
"I just want to know my rights" the rapper protests as the officer pulls him out of the car.
Mill was arraigned Friday afternoon and released, records show. The judge ordered him to complete a driver improvement program by his next court date on Oct. 11, officials said.
Mill, who was born in Philadelphia, can be seen riding a dirt bike amid a swarm of other bikes and ATVs in the 2012 video for the song "Ima Boss."
