Despite repeated run-ins with police in the Miami area, rap impresario Sean “P. Diddy” Combs said he plans to spend more time in the city because the police and people “treat me great.”
Combs, speaking at a promotional event Thursday for his new album, “P. Diddy & The Bad Boy Family, The Saga Continues…”, said his troubles with the law were blown out of proportion.
In the latest incident, police want to question him about an alleged reckless driving incident on June 9. The Miami Herald said he sped off in a silver Ferrari after he was told it was blocking traffic outside Miami’s Club Space.
Police said he nearly hit a pedestrian, ran a red light, then pulled up outside a strip club. He ran inside the club, leaving the car engine running, then slipped through the back door. Charges are pending, police said.
No one tried to arrest Combs at the promotional event.
“I think things get kind of thrown out of proportion. I mean the police they treat me great, the people in the city treat me great,” said the 31-year-old star formerly known as Puff Daddy. “I love the city and hope to get some type of residency here.”
A Miami police spokesman said Combs’ fate was in the hands of the state attorney’s office.
“They’ll look at (the report), take their time and make a decision. This is not high on the priority list,” said City of Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss.
The charges amount to a misdemeanor that could carry fines or community service as punishment.
In April, Combs was stopped by police three times in five days in Golden Beach, North Miami Beach and Miami Beach. The Miami Beach police arrested him for driving with a suspended license but prosecutors dropped the charges when he showed his New York license had been reinstated.
Earlier this year a jury cleared Combs and his bodyguard, Anthony Jones, of gun possession and bribery charges in connection with a New York nightclub shooting on Dec. 27, 1999 that left three people wounded.
Prosecutors alleged that Combs jostled another patron, sparking a dispute that prompted rapper Jamaal “Shyne” Barrow to open fire. After the shooting, Combs and his then girlfriend, actress-singer Jennifer Lopez, fled in a vehicle that police stopped after a chase of several blocks.