A former winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race has been arrested after allegedly threatening to shoot a police officer.
Tyra Sanchez, who bagged a $25,000 (£19,880) prize for winning the 2010 season of the reality show, was arrested last month in Florida.
The 35-year-old, whose real name is James William Ross IV, was involved in a car crash in Starke, TMZ reported.
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Cops attended the scene but Ross allegedly began yelling at one of the officers.
The law enforcement official attempted to calm Ross down but when handcuffs were applied, he reportedly “threatened to shoot the officer”.
(Image: James Ross/Instagram)
Ross went to reach inside of his car, prompting an officer to put him in a bear hug and use a taser.
That did not prevent Ross from attempting to flee the scene but he was swiftly apprehended and arrested for assault and resisting without violence.
In 2020, Ross retired alter ego Tyra, but returned in 2022 with an OnlyFans account under the name King Tyra.
Ross was previously arrested for vandalism in 2020 and taken to a jail in Atlanta.
An Atlanta Police Department spokesperson said at the time that they had responded to a call at an apartment complex where somebody had spray-painted “do not move here” across the building.
(Image: Getty Images North America)
TMZ reported that Ross was living at the graffiti-damaged property and was in rent arrears at the time of the incident, for which a criminal damage charge was made against him.
When retiring from drag, Ross wrote in a now-deleted social media post that he “wants muscles, no more shaving my face, I want to look like ZADDY!”
He also added: “MY NAME IS JAMES OR JAY. NOT TYRA, SHE, MA’AM, OR QUEEN.”
In an Instagram post on February 23, Ross posted photos as himself and his alter ego and wrote: “With me, James Ross, bringing my character Tyra back I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that I answer to James and I prefer his/him/he pronouns.
“No shade. Just friendly reminder. I mean if you met Martin, are you gonna call him Shenehneh?”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
