Jayme Deerwester

USA TODAY

"Why am I in handcuffs?"



That was what Grammy-winning singer and philanthropist Wyclef Jean asked Los Angeles police early Tuesday morning after he was stopped on his way home from a late night in the studio. Video of the incident was soon posted to his Instagram and Twitter accounts.

"LAPD another case of mistaken identity," his post read. "Black man with red bandana robbed a gas station as I was in the studio working but (I'm) in handcuffs?"

"They just took off my Haitian bandana," he said in the first video, adding, "The LAPD have me in cuffs for absolutely nothing."

In a second video, which appears to have been shot by someone else in the car, Wyclef can be heard telling the officers that he was a recording artist on his way back from the studio, asking one of the people he was with to provide the address of the studio and saying that he'll sue the LAPD.

Wyclef was actually pulled over by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, a fact confirmed to USA TODAY by Wyclef's manager, Jerry Blair, and by the sheriff's department on its Facebook page. (West Hollywood is an incorporated city within Los Angeles County and not part of the greater city of Los Angeles. Smaller cities often contract with the county Sheriff's Department for police services.)

The LAPD later tweeted that they were not involved in the incident.

Sgt. D. Walker with the sheriff's West Hollywood station, which is handling media inquiries about the case, told USA TODAY that both Wyclef and his vehicle matched the description of an armed robbery suspect in the area and that the singer was detained for approximately 10 minutes (but not arrested) while sheriff's deputies on the scene conferred with the robbery victims. He was released after they determined that they had the wrong man.

"Within approximately six minutes, deputies confirmed that Mr. Jean and the female driver were not the suspects in the armed robbery," the sheriff's department Facebook post said. The robbery victims told deputies the assailant wore different clothing and a different-colored bandana than what Jean was wearing. "Upon the discovery and verification of this additional information, the reasonable detention of Mr. Jean immediately ended."

Shortly after, and only blocks away, deputies pulled over another car; two suspects were subsequently arrested on multiple charges, including robbery, and are being held on $100,000 bond, the Facebook post said.

Hours after the incident, Wyclef resumed tweeting and provided more details.

"I was asked by the police to put my hands up," he recounted. "Then I was told do not move. I was instantly handcuffed before being asked to identify myself. Nor was I told why I was being cuffed. In the process, I said my name and told them they have the wrong person. They proceeded to ignore me and I was treated like a criminal until other police showed up and pointed out they had the wrong person."

He continued, "I am sure no father wants his sons or daughters to see him in handcuffs, especially if he is innocent. As someone who has law enforcers in his family, I was appalled by this behavior of the LAPD."

Wyclef's manager quoted his tweets in a statement to USA TODAY and acknowledged that the police did apologize — "after handcuffing him."