ASPIRING RAPPER WINS $7500 SETTLEMENT AGAINST NYPD FOR FORCING HIM TO RAP FOR HIS FREEDOM

QUINSHON "SAUCE DA BOSS" SHINGLES

Quinshon Shingles a rising rapper who claims New York Police Department officers entered his aunt’s apartment without a warrant, handcuffed him, and forced him to rap for his release has won a $7,500 settlement in the case.

Shingles, better known as “Sauce Da Boss,” alleged in his suit that officers David Grieco and Joseph Patton entered the East New York apartment to question a suspect. They eventually cuffed him and told him to craft some “spits and bars,” and if they liked his lyrics, they would release him.

“They said, ‘Let me hear something, let me hear you rap, and if it’s good enough, we’ll let you go,’” Shingles told the News last year. “I started rapping, and they liked it so they said, ‘You know what, get him out of the handcuffs.’ I was probably rapping for about a minute before they let me go.”

Shingles claimed the encounter killed his desire to perform onstage.

“It took a toll on me,” he added. “I wanted to do the music thing back then, but that incident right there, that really killed it for me.”

According to Shingles’ suit, Grieco and Patton fooled the building’s superintendent in to giving them a duplicate set of keys to enter the apartment.

Grieco and other officers from the 75th Precinct have been under investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau for allegations, including stealing jewelry and illegal apartment searches.

Grieco is also named in 12 federal and state lawsuits for civil rights violations.

In its response to the suit, the city denied Shingles’ claims. “It does not appear that either plaintiff was arrested… there will be very few police documents relevant to this matter,” Assistant Corporation Counsel Qiana Smith-Williams said in court papers.

Despite this stance, the city continued the suit without any depositions. They claim no wrongdoing in the settlement.