The wife of hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons has been charged with possessing marijuana and avoiding police, according to law enforcement officials.
Kimora Lee Simmons, the 29-year-old model and designer of the fashion label Baby Phat, was driving home in Saddle River, New Jersey, Monday when police officers attempted to stop her car "for minor motor vehicle violations," Lt. Robert Breese of the Saddle River Police Department told CNN.
Simmons "didn't slow down or stop for police who had their lights and sirens on and used their public announcement system to ask her to pull over," Breese said.
Police arrested Simmons after she eventually stopped outside her house. Officers discovered "a small amount of marijuana" in her car, according to Breese.
She was released after being charged with possession of marijuana under 50 grams, eluding police, careless driving, tailgating and driving with a broken brake light.
Russell Simmons, the founder and co-owner of the Def Jam record label, said, "My wife is an excellent driver, and she's not guilty of any crime."
"You don't have to grab my wife and put handcuffs on her, her wrists are all bruised up," he said.
Simmons, 46, has vigorously campaigned to repeal New York State's Rockefeller Drug laws, which require long prison sentences for people caught possessing or selling relatively small amounts of drugs.
"The Rockefeller Drug Laws are unfair, unjust and un-American, and that's why Governor (George) Pataki should repeal these unfair laws now," Simmons said in 2003.
