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Wiz Khalifa Taken Down at LAX for Riding Hoverboard

Rapper posts video, photos of excessive brutal treatment at the hands of police, for refusing to get off his hoverboard

Aug 24, 2015 08:29 GMT  ·  By
Wiz Khalifa rides his gold-plated hoverboard before LAX incident over his refusal to step off it
   Wiz Khalifa rides his gold-plated hoverboard before LAX incident over his refusal to step off it

Wiz Khalifa is just one of the many celebrities to have recently started using a hoverboard in public as a means of transportation. He’s not the only one either to ride one through an airport, but he’s the first to get taken down, slammed to the ground and handcuffed over it.

It happened at LAX this weekend, when the rapper apparently refused to get off his gold-plated gadget (see the photo above for a better look at it) when police officers asked him to.

Wiz Khalifa gets roughed up

If you check out Wiz’s account of the incident, as detailed with videos and statements on Instagram and Twitter, you will see that he claims to have done nothing wrong. Police asked him to step down from his hoverboard, but he didn’t think he had any reason to comply.

Next thing, he was face-down on the ground, with at least 3 cops yelling at him to “stop resisting!” even though he kept telling them “I’m not resisting, sir” and wouldn’t move a muscle.

Wiz found it hilarious that cops would overreact this way over a piece of technology that will be everywhere within 6 months or so, because all the kids will want to ride it. In fact, he jokes, he might even start his own line, just so he can make money off it and laugh in the face of the same cops when they will have no other choice but to let the kids through the airport on them.

He makes it a point that the cops’ reaction was disproportionate to what happened, and while he doesn’t exactly use the phrase “police brutality,” he hints that he considers the incident as bordering on it.

Wiz should have complied

E! News reports that the rapper was wrong not to comply with the US Customs and Border Protection officers’ commands, and that the course of action of having him restrained was legal.

Apparently, Wiz wasn’t arrested. He was released from the handcuffs shortly after, and still had time to check in and leave the country. He had to apologize first.

As for whether the cops’ reaction was excessive or not, Wiz seems convinced that it was, or else he would have posted a clarification to his initial tweets.  

3 cops yell stop resisting. Only thing to do is let em know. I'm not resisting, I'm doin what I want. A video posted by Wiz Khalifa (@mistercap) on Aug 22, 2015 at 5:36pm PDT

We need more love. A photo posted by Wiz Khalifa (@mistercap) on Aug 22, 2015 at 5:39pm PDT
If man can make rules, that means you can make your own. A photo posted by Wiz Khalifa (@mistercap) on Aug 22, 2015 at 6:59pm PDT