SDK History Pt. 12

Welcome back! Wow, 12 straight weeks of these stories already! I will continue where we left off last week.

The tour was winding down and we had very little left in us. After the last show in Montreal as I walked back to my hotel room there was an incident. I am not able to go into certain details for legal reasons but that night as Craver and myself slept in our hotel room there was a loud banging on the door. I jumped to my feet and looked through the peep hole, it was the Police and there was a lot of them. Speaking loudly, I asked what they wanted without opening the door. They said there was an arrest warrant for Quinn Leathem (me) it was shocking to hear my name from a group of complete strangers. I asked them what the warrant was for but they just kept telling me to open the door. I finally opened the door and told them that I had no idea what was going on. They said I had no choice but to go with them down to the station. As this was all happening I noticed Craver in the reflection of the mirror motioning for me to close the door, so I slammed it shut. I went to ask Craver what his plan was but the door flew open and in rushed a bunch of police. They got to Craver first and threw him against the wall then slammed him face first onto the hotel room floor. Standing there in my underwear I was pinned against the wall and handcuffed. The cops grabbed all of my travel bags and brought me outside the hotel. It was mayhem, there were more cops than I had ever seen in my life. The entire area in front of my hotel was taped off and there was blood everywhere. Apparently there was some sort of fight that ended with one person being seriously injured.

The police told me I was charged with aggravated assault and I was placed into the back of a police car. They continued to talk to each other outside the car while I waited and waited. Eventually I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew we were driving. We arrived at the police station just as the sun was coming up. They brought me into the station in my underwear and they all had a good laugh. I have been to jail before but I have never had the police try to humiliate me before. I don't speak french but it was pretty obvious they were making fun of me and my situation. After being processed and having the elastics ripped from my beard, they walked me down a long hallway past a number of jail cells. I was placed alone at the very end of the hallway. It was absolutely silent. After what felt like hours I could hear the faint sound of boots walking my way. A guard appeared and with a confused look on his face he asked me why they put me here? I asked him what he was talking about. He explained to me that this part of the jail was reserved for the loud trouble makers and he didn't even know I was down here. I still had no idea what was going to happen to me but I knew from experience that I would probably be released after about 8-24 hours with a future court date. This never happened.

After about 5 or 6 hours a guard came to my cell and told me to come with her so that I could use the phone. I was brought to a room with two old men in suits. I would be allowed to use the phone but first they had a few questions. According to them I had assaulted someone and because the injuries were so serious the victim was in a coma and not expected to survive the night. I refused to comment and kept asking to talk to my lawyer. Eventually they became visibly frustrated and let me call my lawyer. I was taken back to my cell and waited for my release. This never happened. After another 20 hours a guard returned to my cell and told me I had a phone call. Once again I was brought to the same room and once again it was the same 2 old guys in suits. This time they were very angry and told me the victim had died and now my charges would be raised to murder (they joked that I would be lucky to get involuntary manslaughter and maybe be out of here in 5-8 years. I was absolutely shook. My world came crashing down around me. It was like a movie but the main character was me. To say this was a low moment was an understatement. I stuck to my story and continued to say nothing but "No comment". They brought me back to my cell and the guard told me I have to stay a full 30 hours in this cell before I would see a judge (it had been about 24 hours and I was complaining). I was still in my underwear and it was COLD.

I was so stressed out and lost, my lawyer didn't give me much to feel good about and I had no idea what was happening with the rest of my team, did they go home? Not able to sleep I just kept working out in my cell. I would push my self to absolute exhaustion and then pass out, when I woke up, start the same routine again. It was my only escape from the trauma of my situation. Here I was having the time of my life on a rap tour and now just a day later my life was over, charged with murder, alone in a jail cell. FINALLY it was my time to see a judge. To my shock and relief, I found out those two old detectives were lying to me so that I would give information about something they found on my camera. The victim was not dead and I still had the same assault charge. At this point it didn't matter what I was charged with, all I cared about was being released. The judge told me that because of my refusal to cooperate with investigators that my bail would be denied. I couldn't believe it. I was brought back to a holding cell where a bunch of other guys were waiting to see the judge too. We had been joking with each other when our name was called, apparently "The Clubhouse" is where we would be sent if we didn't get bail. As I returned to the cell they all started laughing because I was going to have a fun ride in the bus now.

As I entered the door of the bus I could hear other inmates asking why I had no clothing on, one guy said it was because my clothing was taken for evidence. The drive seemed to take about an hour and it was along the railway tracks. I can't explain how comforting it was to see all the paintings on the trains from back home, I even saw one of my own. When the bus pulled up to the prison I couldn't believe how much it looked like a prison. Everything I had ever seen in movies was now happening to me, the guard with a mirror looking under the bus, armed guards, sniffer dogs. The song "Murder was the case" by Snoop Dogg kept playing in my head, how could I be here and will I ever get out?? Next thing I know i'm completely naked while a guard looks between my butt cheeks. Another new low point in my life. Thankfully I finally had clothing but now I had no shoes, they didn't have anything even close to my shoe size so I was told to wear them like flip flops with my heel hanging off the back (this eventually wore my feet raw).

The doors to the unit I would be housed in opened and they shoved me in. It was a two tiered giant room with cells on the top and bottom with a bunch of tables on the main floor, with one TV on the wall in French only. I just couldn't get over how much this looked like every movie I had ever seen, there was one guy running very fast up the stairs, along the cells and down the other set of stairs, across the table area and back up the stairs again. He was FLYING, but he never got tired. It was overwhelming and I couldn't understand anything because I didn't speak any french. Eventually I found my cell but there was 5 guys smoking cigarettes, which I am allergic to. Thankfully they left and I hopped onto the top bunk and began my life in prison. I didn't even know what happens next, would it be months before I got out? Do I have another court date or am I forgotten about. I was sure the tour bus had gone home without me by now. A surprising calm came over me, I had spent the past 30 hours on a hard wood bench, working out to exhaustion. Now I was paying the price, my body was so sore it was hard to walk. I now had a bed with a pillow, it felt like the most comfortable bed in the world (even though my legs were hanging off the end of the bed on a sharp metal piece). I passed out. To be continued.