# Why was Solange Knowles (Beyonce's sister) never prosecuted for assault against rapper Jay-Z? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 2, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467 "2016-11-02T19:16:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StanielMarsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@StanielMarsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StanielMarsh)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467/1 "2016-11-02T19:16:02Z")
She was on The Tonight Show recently, and it got me wondering why she was never prosecuted. It’s almost like we reward physical assault. She attacked her sister’s husband Jay-Z and it was all caught on tape. You would think she would be in jail, but instead she got rewarded with more public recognition and now a singing career! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: It’s almost like we have two classes of people, those who can get away with physical assault and those who would be prosecuted and jailed and lose their career. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467/2 "2016-11-02T19:28:12Z")
From [this article](http://hollywoodlife.com/2014/05/16/solange-knowles-jail-time-assault-jay-z/), quoting a NYPD officer: > [@](#): > > “She can not be charged by the NYPD for harassment or assault unless Jay Z, Beyonce, or the bodyguard press charges themselves,” he says. “The only thing she can be charged with by the NYPD is a public nuisance. Nobody else was subjected to her actions. If she came off of the elevator and continued to cause a scene in the lobby of the hotel and caused people to become alarmed, she could be charged with public nuisance AND disorderly conduct — an additional charge.” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467/3 "2016-11-02T19:35:37Z")
I will say that my experience with New Jersey law is in line with the quote about New York law. It’s a misdemeanor assault. It would be up to Mr Carter to come forward and sign a complaint. Just because she is related to his wife does not make it a domestic violence situation. Now if it had been his wife committing the assault then it would fall under domestic violence statutes. Here it would only be a mandatory arrest if there were signs of injury but the chances of her being charged would be much higher. It has nothing to do with there being two classes of people. If it happened to the OP in the exact same way the outcome would be the same. ---
**Author:** ![StanielMarsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@StanielMarsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StanielMarsh)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467/4 "2016-11-02T20:00:02Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > From [this article](http://hollywoodlife.com/2014/05/16/solange-knowles-jail-time-assault-jay-z/), quoting a NYPD officer: Here’s the thing, plenty of people have been charged when even their victim opposed the prosecution. Example might be Dominick form NY1 or State Senator Hiren (he was ultimately acquitted.) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467/5 "2016-11-02T20:08:27Z")
> [@StanielMarsh](#): > > Here’s the thing, plenty of people have been charged when even their victim opposed the prosecution. Example might be Dominick form NY1 or State Senator Hiren (he was ultimately acquitted.) You are going to have to do better than that. People here aren’t going to magically know who you are talking about or if the situations are analogous. Those don’t sound like national stories we are supposed to know about. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467/6 "2016-11-02T20:15:27Z")
I did you a favor. I did look it up. You probably have the name wrong for the Senator. As for the other person you mention I’m assuming you mean [Dominic Carter](http://nymag.com/news/media/63660/). Completely different situation. That was a domestic assault with visible injuries. Mandatory arrest and prosecution in most states. You can’t compare domestic violence with cases that don’t fall under domestic violence statutes. They don’t fall under the same law in most jurisdictions and legally have to be treated differently. I’ll predict your other example is going to wind up being the same. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467/7 "2016-11-02T20:32:53Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It has nothing to do with there being two classes of people. I think there are different classes of people, although it’s social and not legal classes. If either the genders or the finances of the two people involved were reversed, it’s likely that the victim would have pressed charges. But it’s tough socially for a man to press charges against a woman for attacking him, and as he wasn’t going to sue her anyway it wasn’t in his interests to play up the story. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467/8 "2016-11-02T20:41:26Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I think there are different classes of people, although it’s social and not legal classes. > > If either the genders or the finances of the two people involved were reversed, it’s likely that the victim would have pressed charges. But it’s tough socially for a man to press charges against a woman for attacking him, and as he wasn’t going to sue her anyway it wasn’t in his interests to play up the story. Maybe so but that’s not what the OP was about. He wants to know why the cops didn’t arrest her. The answer is because that’s the law. If you want to talk about why JayZ didn’t press charges that’s a whole different issue. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467/9 "2016-11-03T01:20:42Z")
I thought it was because she’s hot and cop are cops. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-solange-knowles-beyonces-sister-never-prosecuted-for-assault-against-rapper-jay-z/770467/10 "2016-11-03T02:49:20Z")
> [@StanielMarsh](#): > > or State Senator Hiren (he was ultimately acquitted.) Are you talking about Hiram Montserrate? He was a state senator from New York who slashed his girlfriend’s face with a broken bottle during an argument. She originally cooperated with the police, and then told them it was an accident. But he was charged with felony assault, pretty much because he used a weapon (he was eventually acquitted of that and convicted of misdemeanor assault). **Loach** , just a question. Why don’t prosecutors charge on misdemeanor assault without victim cooperation? Any reason? Too difficult to make a case?