Keke Wyatt’s team says the R&B singer was charged with one count of simple assault after her Georgia arrest, not the child cruelty, terroristic threats, and aggravated assault charges that have been widely reported.
Wyatt, 44, whose legal name is Ketara Wyatt Darring, was arrested on Sept. 20 and booked into the Henry County Jail. She was released two days later after posting a $1,050 bond.
On Friday, her representatives posted a statement to her Instagram pushing back on the coverage. “Contrary to information currently being circulated, the Henry County court documentation reflects one charge: simple assault,” the statement read. It said in bold that she was not charged with cruelty to children, terroristic threats and acts, or aggravated assault, and it called the child cruelty reports an extremely serious characterization that the court paperwork does not reflect. The statement was signed by Drae Shaw Entertainment Celebrity Bookings, and it asked outlets to correct the record.
Her team did not release the court documents it referenced, and it did not say whether the charges were changed after her booking. Wyatt plans to handle the case through the legal process, and her performance schedule is staying the same.
The public records show more. A Henry County Sheriff’s Office representative told TMZ that Keke Wyatt was booked on terroristic threats, simple assault, and cruelty to children. Her booking entry, filed under her legal name, lists aggravated assault, terroristic threats and acts, and third degree cruelty to children as a misdemeanor.
In Georgia, simple assault generally means trying to physically hurt someone or doing something that puts a person in reasonable fear of being hurt right away. It is typically a misdemeanor. Third degree cruelty to children does not mean a child was harmed. It applies when a person allegedly lets a child witness certain violent acts, or commits one knowing a child can see or hear it. A first or second conviction is a misdemeanor.
An arrest warrant affidavit obtained by TMZ gives the first detailed account of what police say happened. Officers responded to a reported domestic disturbance during a custody exchange. According to the affidavit, a witness said a fight broke out between two people handing off a child. Wyatt was there but was not one of the two people making the exchange.
The witness told police Keke Wyatt pulled out a black 9mm Beretta, extended it through a car window, and said, “Let that [expletive] come over here, so I can blow her brains out.” Three children were reportedly nearby when the confrontation happened, which appears to be the basis for the child cruelty count. The affidavit does not accuse Wyatt of physically harming a child.
Wyatt gave police a different account. She told officers she had the gun but denied pointing it out of the window or threatening anyone.
Authorities have not publicly identified the woman involved or the people making the custody exchange.
The arrest has brought up the legal case that followed Wyatt at the start of her career. In 2002, a Kentucky grand jury indicted her on second degree assault after her then husband and manager, Rahmat Morton, was stabbed during a Christmas Day domestic dispute. The case was later dismissed, and Wyatt has said she acted in self defense after suffering domestic abuse.
