“Empire” actor Bryshere Gray was arrested Monday morning in Arizona and is accused of assaulting his wife and refusing to speak to police for hours, authorities said.
Gray, 26, was detained at 7 a.m. by officers in the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear, about nine hours after authorities responded to a 911 call from his wife, police said in a statement.
After Gray refused to speak to officers, a SWAT team and crisis negotiators were dispatched to help, police said. Gray was detained without incident, the statement added.
According to prison records, he was arrested on suspicion of battery and disorderly conduct. It was not immediately clear if he has an attorney. A representative for Gray did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gray, who played Hakeem Lyon in “Empire,” was born in Philadelphia and also raps under the name “Yazz the Greatest.”
The show, which appeared on Fox for six seasons, was canceled after actor Jussie Smollett claimed last year that he was the victim of a racially and politically motivated assault. Later, the Chicago authorities charged Smollett with serious disorderly conduct for allegedly fabricating the story and filing a false police report.
Those charges were later dropped, although Smollett was charged in February with six counts of disorderly conduct. Smollett has denied the allegations and was responding to a malicious accusation, although a judge dismissed the lawsuit in April.
