Rick Ross Arrested for Choking Woman Over an Instagram Tag

What the Arrest Affidavit Actually Says

CBS News reports that the alleged incident happened on August 28, when Ross woke the woman at 7:44 a.m., furious about an Instagram tag. According to the affidavit, he slapped her in the face and began interrogating her about whether she was cheating.

The affidavit then describes Ross following the woman into a bathroom, where he struck her in the chest multiple times and grabbed and twisted the collar of her hoodie to restrict her breathing. That is the basis for the felony strangulation charge. He then allegedly grabbed her by the ponytail, slammed her head against a wall, struck her in the face hard enough to split her lip, pushed her to the floor, and turned on the shower to spray her.

The woman was eventually able to leave the bathroom and, after Ross left the residence, gathered her belongings and got out. She later gave detectives a sworn statement, timestamped photographs of her injuries, and surveillance video from the property was reviewed by investigators. The affidavit notes that Ross subsequently posted a photo to his own Instagram showing a friend arriving at the property, the same friend who had been turned away from picking the woman up.

Voluntary Surrender, $5,000 Bond, Done by Breakfast

Ross, whose legal name is William Leonard Roberts II, voluntarily turned himself in to Miami Beach Police headquarters Thursday morning, CBS News reports. He was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center at 6:10 a.m. He was in bond court, appearing via Zoom, before most people had poured their second cup of coffee.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer reviewed the arrest report, found probable cause, and set bond at $4,000 on the felony strangulation charge and $1,000 on the misdemeanor battery count. Five thousand dollars total. Ross's attorney, Bradley Horenstein, asked the judge to expedite his client's release because Ross is a celebrity. That is a real thing that happened in a real courtroom.

Glazer also issued a stay-away order barring Ross from any contact with the alleged victim, including through third parties or social media, and ordered him to surrender all firearms and cease possessing weapons. His arraignment is set for October 22.

His Lawyer Says It's All False

Horenstein told CBS News Miami that the allegations are entirely untrue. "All I can say is that the allegations are false. He's innocent. Everything is going to come out," Horenstein said, asking the public to let the legal process play out before rushing to judgment.

That is his job, and he is doing it. It is also worth understanding what "the process playing out" looks like here: a judge already reviewed the affidavit and found probable cause. There are timestamped photographs of injuries. There is surveillance video. There is a sworn statement from the alleged victim. The defense attorney's request that everyone pump the brakes lands a little differently when that much documentation is apparently sitting in a file somewhere.

The Incident Was Reported a Month Later

One detail that tends to get lost in the initial arrest coverage is the timeline. According to CBS News and the Miami Beach police, the alleged assault occurred on August 28. The incident was not reported to police until September 29, more than a month later. Ross was arrested October 2.

This is not unusual in domestic violence cases. Advocates who work in this space will tell you that delayed reporting is the norm, not the exception, especially when the alleged abuser is wealthy, famous, and the victim has been living in his house. None of that changes what the affidavit describes. It does explain why so much physical documentation mattered when investigators finally sat down with the woman.