Why 2 Chainz had a nine-hour standoff in 2013 with the Oklahoma police
A dramatic, gossipy story hit the papers in August 2013. Police stopped a bus in Oklahoma, ostensibly because of a faulty taillight, but the situation duly spiralled, leading to nine long hours of a stand-off and the eventual arrest of 11 individuals, with one of the arrested being Playaz Circle rapper 2 Chainz.
Chainz was on tour at the time, supporting Lil Wayne for a string of shows across the US. He was promoting a new single around then, which, fittingly, was called ‘Feds Watching’; this was not his first brush with the law, after all.
Chainz had been found not guilty of drug charges only months before this incident, so he was, by this point in time, sick of dealings with the police. That meant he was in no mood to comply with the cops after they stopped his tour bus along Oklahoma’s Interstate 40.
Sergeant Jennifer Wardlow, of the Oklahoma City Police Department, later claimed in a statement that officers had stopped the bus because they’d noticed a broken taillight, but as they got closer to the vehicle, they allegedly encountered evidence of drug use.
A group of people remained inside the bus, locking the door to prevent the police from gaining entry. They insisted that a warrant be presented to them, which is sometimes easier said than done, because that can take a while.
That led to a stand-off between police and the people inside the bus, lasting for about nine hours. Eventually, the cops grew tired of the quagmire, so they decided to tow the bus away to a police training centre with the people still on board.
At the training centre, the warrant was finally issued. The group was arrested, with 2 Chainz being among them, with court papers later revealing what had been found on board the bus.
The police found a couple of semi-automatic pistols, plus a shotgun, and evidence of marijuana use, too, while prescription painkillers were discovered without an actual prescription in sight.
2 Chainz later spoke to Rolling Stone about how frustrated he was with what he perceived as police unfairly targeting him while he was on tour. “I’m not happy about it,” he said, “I don’t want to go to jail”.