Coolio Charged With Battery for Allegedly Punching Girlfriend in the Face

Las Vegas police report states that the alleged victim also had a tire mark on her leg consistent with being swiped by a vehicle

By Natalie Finn Apr 16, 2013 11:34 PMTags
CoolioAP Photo/Jennifer Graylock

Coolio is accused of getting really nasty.

The "Gangsta's Paradise" rapper and recent Wife Swap participant is facing a misdemeanor charge of battery constituting domestic violence after being arrested earlier this month for allegedly beating on his girlfriend, with whom he has a son.

According to a report obtained by E! News from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the alleged victim, Anabella Chatman, told the responding officer that Coolio (real name Artis Ivey Jr.) and she got into a fight when he brought another girlfriend over to their house.

Per the report, Chatman told police that her boyfriend of three years pushed her, causing her to fall to the ground, and then, when she got up, "punched her with a closed fist hitting her on the right side of her lip."

The rapper then tried to leave the house with their son and the other woman, Chatman said, per the report, and when she ran outside to try to stop them, she fell down and Coolio's truck swiped her. The report states that she had a tire mark on her left calf "conducive to a vehicle hitting her."  

Coolio then drove her to an urgent care facility, which is where police conducted interviews with both. 

Per the report filled out by Officer M. Thiele, Coolio admitted that they got into a physical altercation but denied hitting her. He told Thiele that Chatman scratched him and the officer noted in the report that he had "very light scratch marks" on the left side of his face.

Coolio's other girlfriend, Melynda Karr, backed up his side of the story, according to Thiele.

The report states that Chatman had a split lip, a bleeding right middle finger and several abrasions on her body, pointing to her boyfriend as the "predominant physical aggressor," which led to his arrest.

He was booked and released and is due to be arraigned May 31.

—Reporting by Baker Machado