ATLANTA — Days after T.I. was arrested outside of his gated community in Henry County, an online petition has surfaced urging police to drop the charges against the Atlanta rapper.
On Wednesday, the artist, whose legal name is Clifford Harris Jr., was charged with simple assault, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness, but the Care2 petition is calling on police to drop the charges.
[TIMELINE: Rapper T.I.'s arrests, legal trouble throughout the years]
The organizers called the charges “ridiculous” and said T.I. deserves an apology. They also said the security guards involved were “racist.”
“A simple check would have proven who he was and the situation could have resolved there. But instead they decided to involve the police which used the opportunity, not to aid the citizen in need, but support security who were in the wrong,” they wrote on the site.
[READ: 'You work for me': Channel 2 obtains 911 call that led to T.I.'s arrest]
They are asking for 12,000 signatures. As of Saturday afternoon, they had garnered more than 11,700 supporters.
Via a live Instagram video, T.I. labeled the arrest “nonsense” and “small potatoes,” adding that God will take care of it. And his attorney Steve Sadow said his client “was wrongfully arrested.”
[READ: Rapper T.I. arrested in Henry County]
The incident occurred after T.I. arrived at the gate outside his community to find the security guard sleeping. While the guard initially refused to let the rapper in, he eventually admitted him, according to an incident report from Henry County police.
T.I. then walked from his home back to the guard booth — a distance of more than a half-mile — and began to argue again with the guard, who called police.
He was released from the Henry County Jail about 8 a.m. Wednesday after posting $2,250 bond.