Police Chase Ends in Crash, Rapper’s Arrest

Atlanta rapper Paper Lovee, born Ibnisa Durr, was involved in a dramatic highway car chase that ended with his arrest on Aug. 20. The 25-year-old’s vehicle crashed into two police patrol cars. The performer was on police radar because there was a warrant out for his arrest on an aggravated assault charge in connection to a May shooting in Atlanta, police said. He was tracked to Sandy Springs, Georgia, so Atlanta police asked police there to assist in chasing Durr down. He fled in a BMW at around 10 a.m. on Aug. 20, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

After police tried to stop Durr on Georgia State Route 400, Durr crashed into two police cars, police said. One officer was taken to a nearby hospital to be evaluated for a head injury, Sandy Springs police said. Police also released dash-camera footage of the chase, which forced other drivers to park on the shoulder of the highway while police chased him. Eventually, they boxed him in, and Durr stopped his car. He appeared to get out and threw something into the air. Sandy Springs police spokesman Sgt. Sal Ortega told the Journal-Constitution the rapper had a gun in his hand. Officers got Durr to the ground, but he continued to struggle during the arrest.

“We want to make it clear that despite the serious charges he’s facing in Atlanta, if someone commits a crime in our city, or endangers our residents, injures our officers, and damages our property, we will prosecute them with everything we have and then hand them over to the outside agency that also wants them,” Ortega told the Journal-Constitution on Tuesday. Durr, who has over 260,000 followers on Instagram, faces new charges of “obstruction of law enforcement, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and fleeing and attempting to elude officers.”

Earlier this year, Durr was identified as the suspect in a shooting at an Atlanta convenience store, police said. On May 30, responding officers found a 25-year-old man with gunshot wounds at the store, according to a police report. The victim was treated at a nearby hospital. A witness told police multiple people were involved in a fight outside the store and shots were fired. Police found six shell casings. Durr, who has been charged with several crimes since 2013, was charged with “possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and aggravated assault” for the May shooting.