News: Hip-Hop Pioneer Paradise Gray Arrested On Trumped Up Charges

About 3 days ago activist, journalist, former X-Clan member and pioneering Hip-Hop icon Paradise Gray was arrested, apparently for nothing more than filming a demonstration and more explicitly trying to help prevent people from being trampled on....

Details are still somewhat scant, but as far as I know what occurred was this:

Dice was out at the Del Monte Building in his native Pittsburgh filming a peaceful demonstration that was going down so he could later report and write on it....

The demonstration in question was several protesters sitting in front of the building, physically blocking it's entrance. The peaceful objectors were there in representation of a community organization called Northside United and their purpose was "to protest Continental Real Estate’s unwillingness to negotiate for better wages for workers in the Del Monte Building".

Long story short, a bit of a scuffle broke out when a large man tried exiting the building while 2 NU members were blocking the door...Dice attempted to assist the members, who were also women and intervened. Upon doing so, he was tackled by police and promptly arrested along with a couple other protesters. Interestingly enough, the other protesters, who told police that Gray was just a bystander and wasn't involved in the protest in any way before he tried to help the two women, were simply ticketed and released. Meanwhile Dice was taken to Allegheny County Jail custody.

One officer who helped arrest gray at the scene alleges that Dice ignored verbal warnings to vacate the doorway and was resisting....This version of the situation highly contrasts just about all of the protesters and bystanders account's. According to them, Dice was compliant and when he was tackled even tried to let the police know that he was a there in a journalistic role and not apart of the protest.

In the wake of this bedlam, it's been proposed that the 45 yr. old Gray was targeted by police from the very start of the incident. This mis-carriage of justice is further confounded by the fact that Dice is well known to the Pittsburgh PD as a peace maker and has many times bolstered discussion between them and the community.

Dice has subsequently been released from police holding....

-BIG D O