Wyclef Jean was mistakenly arrested and detained by the Los Angeles county sheriff’s department after leaving his studio in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Jean was handcuffed by sheriffs who thought he matched a description of a criminal in the area who committed an assault/robbery at a nearby gas station, apparently wearing the same coloured bandana and driving a similar car.
Following the incident, Jean had reacted angrily on social media and wrongfully accused the LAPD for the sheriffs action, stating on Twitter, “LAPD another case of mistaken identity. Black man with red bandana robbed a gas station as I was in the studio working but I’m in handcuffs?”
Jean posted a video on Twitter explaining he was a musician and would threaten to sue the department for such hassle:
Jean believed he was being ignored by the sheriffs even after explaining who he was. “They proceeded to ignore me and I was treated like a criminal until other police showed up and pointed out they had wrong person,” he wrote on Twitter.
The LA sheriffs department has since released an apology to the singer: “It is unfortunate that Mr Jean was detained for six minutes during this investigation, as he had no involvement whatsoever in this violent crime,” and were “apologetic for any inconvenience”.