MIAMI (AP) – Tying a bandanna printed with the red-and-blue Haitian flag around his head, Grammy-winning musician Wyclef Jean joked Friday that he hoped no Los Angeles police officers were watching and mistaking him again for a gang member.
The former Fugees star said he had been wearing a similar bandanna when Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies stopped his car March 21 in West Hollywood, California, believing him to be an armed robbery suspect. Sheriff’s officials later apologized and said deputies detained him in a patrol car “out of an abundance of caution.”
Jean said that along with his lawyers, his 12-year-old daughter has scrutinized the deputies’ actions in light of other national news reports about black men detained or killed in altercations with police.
He advised his daughter to do exactly as he did, following deputies’ instructions.
“I’m alive to say I didn’t go for my waistband,” he said.