Rapper Flavor Flav Due To Face Driving Charges On Long Island
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) - Rapper Flavor Flav is due in a Long Island courtroom later this month after being indicted on charges stemming from a traffic stop while driving to his mother's funeral.
Court documents show the rapper, whose real name is William Drayton, was indicted on a felony charge of driving with a suspended license. He also faces a speeding violation and two misdemeanors for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
A spokesman for Nassau County acting District Attorney Madeline Singas declined comment. The spokesman confirmed Drayton has a Jan. 21 court appearance. Drayton's attorney, who has been seeking to reach a plea agreement, declined comment.
The 54-year-old rapper pleaded not guilty in January 2014.
His attorney, Indji Bessim, told Nassau County District Court Judge Norman St. George that over the past several days she and her client have worked to clear up the 16 outstanding traffic matters that sparked the unlicensed driving charge.
Drayton had to remove his trademark clock from around his neck to pass through the metal detector. After court, he told journalists that "God is good."
He told reporters later that he hoped the charges would eventually be dismissed.
"I'm hoping they would have a heart and dismiss it all because of the circumstances," he said. "Because if it wasn't for me driving to my mother's funeral and being late getting to my mother's funeral, I wouldn't have been behind the wheel in the first place to get the charge."
The rapper-reality TV star from Roosevelt, New York, was arrested Jan. 9, 2014. He was stopped on the Meadowbrook Parkway.
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