Rapper Lil Reese Arrested On Downstate Warrant For Videotaped 2012 Beating
Updated 04/29/13 - 3:35 p.m.
CHICAGO (STMW) -- Champaign police identified Chicago rapper and Chief Keef pal Lil Reese as the alleged attacker in the 2012 videotaped beating of a Downstate woman, leading to his arrest Sunday in Chicago.
Lil Reese, whose given name is Tavares Taylor, was charged with criminal trespass, mob action and battery in Champaign County after he allegedly refused to leave the woman's apartment when asked and punched her until she fell to the ground in February 2012. The video appeared online in October and a report was filed with Champaign police, though the warrant for Taylor's arrest was not issued until Thursday.
Taylor, 20, was arrested early Sunday after police spotted him sleeping in a vehicle in the 4400 block of South Wells and found the Champaign County warrant, which listed his bail at $100,000. He appeared in Cook County Court Sunday before he was transferred to Champaign County.
According to police, the woman said she returned home from a night out Feb. 19, 2012 to find 20 to 25 people in her apartment, including Taylor. When she asked the people to leave, Taylor pushed the woman and slapped her before a fight broke out between the woman, Taylor and two other people.
She told police Taylor allegedly kicked and stomped her while she lay on the ground. The fight ended when people present intervened, and everyone involved fled the scene.
A video was posted on YouTube in October showing a woman arguing with a young man and asking him to leave her apartment. The man — who police later identified as Lil Reese — punches her repeatedly in the face as she cries out.
Taylor, who was signed to Def Jams Recordings in 2012, dismissed the video on Twitter shortly after it was posted, saying the video of "sum s---" was recorded years ago and only released now by "haters." He later deleted the tweet.
Efforts to reach a record company representative were unsuccessful.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
