HOUSTON — Houston rapper Trae Tha Truth was charged in connection to a fight with another rapper Z-Ro stemming from an incident back in August, according to the Houston Police Department.
Trae Tha Truth, whose real name is Frazier O. Thompson, was charged with assault on Dec. 27 and is currently out on bond.
According to court documents, on Aug. 27 at 11 p.m., a police officer working an extra job saw Z-Ro, whose real name is Joseph McVey, involved in a fight with a group of men outside of the Kim Son restaurant on Jefferson Street near St. Emanuel Street in east downtown Houston.
Investigators contacted McVey on Sept. 3 to follow up on his case. Detectives said they found a video that had been posted the day before by TMZ on YouTube that showed the alleged assault. The video showed McVey being hit and kicked while he was on the ground, covering his face to protect himself.
Police said they identified a man wearing an orange shirt in the video as Thompson. The video showed him on top of McVey, punching him in the head while others were also hitting him.
Police said the video also shows two other men who they have identified as assaulting McVey. One of them could be seen reaching down and picking up a piece of jewelry that had slipped off McVey’s wrist as he was being assaulted.
On Sept. 20, McVey provided a statement to police about the video and the theft of his jewelry, court documents state. McVey told police he arrived at the restaurant just after 10 p.m. and went to meet with an artist on his label.
McVey told police he had later walked out of the restaurant and saw the group of men and noticed Thompson. McVey said he began taking photos with fans and then he was approached by Thompson, who asked him when he was done taking photos to meet with him.
McVey told police he later went to meet with Thompson who was standing next to a van outside the parking lot. He then said he was sucker punched by Thompson.
According to court documents, that's when the others joined in, and McVey was thrown to the ground. He said while he was on the ground, the jewelry fell off and was taken by one of the men. He added that his sunglasses, watch and the bracelet was taken.
McVey said he was eventually able to get up and that's when he saw uniformed police separate the group from him, court documents state. McVey added that he suffered an eye injury when Thompson punched him.
McVey told police he has known Thompson since 1996 and was able to identify him as his alleged attacker.
Thompson is expected to appear back in court on Jan. 6.