Dave East was cited for possession of marijuana and disorderly conduct following an incident involving the New York City Police Department, whose handling of East's traffic stop has been criticized.
According to a regional report from NBC, Dave East was riding in the backseat of an SUV that "failed to signal a turn" late Thursday night. Police pulled over the vehicle, the driver of which they described as being compliant. Police claimed East and another passenger were noncompliant, with footage shared by East showing that a small crowd had gathered at the scene and could be heard verbally criticizing police for what they characterized as harassment.
The footage also reveals that officers were not uniformly following CDC guidelines regarding the wearing of masks due to COVID-19:
Ultimately, East was taken to a police station and issued—alongside the other passenger—summonses for criminal possession of marijuana and disorderly conduct. Per the NBC report, police claim to have found multiple bags of marijuana in the car, as if that matters at all. Early Friday morning, East went live on Instagram but didn't appear to address the NYPD incident at all.
As heard in the clip of the incident shared by East, someone tells him he has to be at a funeral the following day. A separate Blastreport on the NYPD incident notes that East's close friend and fellow artist Kiing Shooter recently died from what's been reported as complications connected with COVID-19:
