T.I.’s attorney responds to Henry Co. charges

An accusation containing charges of simple assault, public drunkenness and disorderly conduct was filed Friday against Atlanta rapper T.I. in Henry County State Court. The filing accused Clifford Harris Jr., also known as T.I., of making a verbal threat and acting “in a violent or tumultuous manner” toward security guard Euwan James at the Eagles Landing Country Club in Stockbridge two months ago. The county solicitor general’s office filed the accusation. The accusation also alleged Harris “was in an intoxicated condition in a public place, which condition made manifest by his boisterous conduct, profane language, an odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from his person, and by his own admission of alcohol consumption.” In a statement emailed to AJC. com, T.I.’s attorney, Steve Sadow, said: “The misdemeanor charges brought against T.I. are baseless, ill-founded and unjustified. T.I. never threatened or acted in a violent manner towards Euwan James, the security guard. Indeed, we understand the security guard was fired for the way he handled the situation with T.I. We had sincerely hoped that the Henry County Solicitor had better, more important, things to do to serve the Henry County community than prosecute an African American over a verbal dispute during an encounter with a security guard who was asleep at his post and was unwilling to provide his name to T.I. so T.I. could report the guard’s misconduct to his employer.” Harris was arrested after this altercation, which was prompted by his forgetting his keys, and James’ refusal to let him past the gate. James said Harris started using profanity and yelled at him to open the gate, according to the Harris County police incident report from May 16. James eventually opened the gate and let Harris in, but Harris told police James wouldn’t give him his name or his supervisor’s name when asked. After T.I. parked his car at his home, he walked back to try to get James’ name, the report said. James said T.I. threatened him and said “come outside so we can deal with this man to man.” At some point, T.I. called his friend, Marquinarius Holmes, 40, of Stockbridge, to join in, who was then arrested on outstanding charges out of Clayton County for not having proof of car insurance, the sheriff ’s office told AJC.com back in May. Harris was released from the Henry County Jail later that morning after posting $2,250 bond. He did not appear before a judge. Sadow said in a phone interview that Friday’s accusation “is simply a document filed by the prosecutor alleging the charges. There is no grand jury, there is no independent body that makes the decision. It is made and filed by the prosecutor. It doesn’t require anything more than crafting a piece a paper and signing it.”