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BUSTA RHYMES STILL MUM ON RAMIREZ SHOOTING: Also, rapper’s alleged assault victim details being pummeled by the rap star.
*After New York cops went through the trouble of bringing Busta Rhymes in last weekend on an assault charge – which the rapper’s lawyer says was a ploy to finally question him about the February shooting of his bodyguard Israel Ramirez – the artist reportedly stuck to his “no snitching” policy and continued to keep his mouth shut.
According to the New York Times, Rhymes refused again Saturday evening to tell authorities what he knows about the Ramirez killing, even though, the police said, he was standing next to the victim when he was killed.
A deputy police commissioner, Paul J. Browne, said nearly 100 interviews have been conducted with potential witnesses to the shooting, which took place on Feb. 5 outside a Brooklyn warehouse where Rhymes was filming a music video. Many of those interviewed were close by when Ramirez was shot, the police believe, but none have led them to a suspect. Busta, whose real name is Trevor Smith, has refused to cooperate with the investigation from day one.
On Saturday, police caught up with him following his performance at New York’s AmsterJam and arrested him for the Aug. 12 beating of a 19-year-old man, Robert Lebron, who allegedly spit on Busta’s passing car. He was arraigned the following day on misdemeanor third-degree assault and weapons charges.
LeBron, meanwhile, tells the New York Post that he did spit on Busta’s car at about 4 a.m. on Aug. 12, but it was by accident. Lebron says he was spitting in the road when the car happened to drive by at that exact moment.
Lebron tells the Post that Rhymes stopped the car, jumped out and approached him stating: "‘Homie, did you just spit on my car?’ I said, 'Sorry, I didn't mean to.’ I said, 'We're big fans of yours.' And that's the last thing I said. Then one of his people hit me in the face, and I fell to the ground. While I was on the ground, he was kicking me, and he kicked me in my face."
Cops found a 10 inch machete in Busta’s SUV, prompting the rapper’s added weapons charge. As previously reported, the 34-year-old MC was released Sunday on $3,000 bail and is due back in court on Oct. 24.
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