Today’s generation of Hip Hop artists has been having their share of legal issues, and New York emcee Rayheim Drayton, aka Tito Montana, is no different. Back in November of last year, Montana was arrested by New York State Troopers following a routine traffic stop. Still, Montana contends that everything from the initial stop to the current litigation he’s facing is laden with corruption and the history of the unit of arresting officers is more than enough evidence to allow a deeper look into his case.
Shortly after Montana’s arrest while awaiting trial, one of the New York State Troopers from Duchess County’s Troop K Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Unit, Michael O’Flaherty, was arrested by the FBI in late November for giving false statements to investigators and obstructing an official proceeding. Both federal charges carry a combined sentence of 25 years in prison. Even though O’Flaherty was named Zone 2 Trooper of the Year a decade ago, he allegedly withheld information from investigators and reportedly tipped off drug dealers that were being investigated. These types of malicious acts of misconduct is the cause of Montana’s plea for justice.
Montana gives an exclusive statement along with video footage of his traffic stop by NYS Troopers from the VGNET Unit to The Source, describing what he shows as egregious misconduct on behalf of the troopers, which Montana feels will vindicate him in his felony case.
“On September 4th, 2024 at approximately 1:45pm as I was traveling North bound on the Taconic State Parkway (in Upstate New York), I noticed 2 NYS Trooper SUVs parked in an AUTHORIZED VEHICLES ONLY section of the highway’s median a few yards ahead of me. As a natural reaction, I checked to see if I was driving within the speed limit, which I was. Immediately after I passed the location where they were parked, one of the vehicles pulled out behind me. Shortly thereafter, I put my right signal on to merge onto the Newburg/ Danbury exit headed toward I-84.
While driving around the turn headed to I-84, the vehicle in front of me was traveling a lot slower than the heavy flow of traffic, so I slowed down as well at which point another car pulled directly behind me. As the lane started to straighten up, I put on my left signal to merge into the ongoing traffic when I noticed both ofthe State Trooper SUVs behind the car driving directly behind me.
Immediately after I merged on to I-84, the car behind me merged to the far left lane and then both of the State Trooper SUVs were directly behind me. Still unaware of what their intentions were, I put my left signal on to merge into the far left lane as well, at which point Officer Batista put on his emergency lights. I then put my right signal on and slowly merged back over to the right lane, immediately stopping on the shoulder.
The purpose of me explaining all of those details, is to point out the fact that Officer Batista (from the Troop K Barracks in Poughkeepsie located in Dutchess County) never mentioned anything at any point during my traffic stop about him witnessing anything such as reckless driving as his reason for pulling me over. However, during his grand jury testimony under oath, Officer Batista testified that he observed me change lanes unsafely and then when I passed him, I slammed on my brakes. Also, while he was driving behind me, he witnessed me merge onto the exit without putting on my signal within 100 feet. Additionally, he said that I attempted to merge halfway into the left lane without signaling, then went back into the right lane and then back toward the left lane before he put on his lights to pull me over.
Immediately after he pulled me over, he walked up to my vehicle and I asked Officer Batista what was the reason for him pulling me over. He replied, “I’m pulling you over because you have a missing plate on the front of your vehicle..” He then asked for my license and registration. I went into my glove box and handed him the documents he asked for and I explained to him that I was only issued one plate, being that my car was registered in the State of Georgia. I also explained to him that the sticker for my registration was on the back of my license plate and that the old inspection sticker in the window of my vehicle was from the previous owner and that I had only purchased the car in New York, but it was only registered by me in the State of Georgia. At this point, the second officer, Officer Porteus, came to the passenger side of my vehicle trying to make small talk, asking me where I was coming from.
Officer Batista then walked back to his vehicle, but came back pretty fast, which I thought was a good thing due to the nature of the stop. (However, what I wasn’t aware of at the time was that Officer Batista only went to his vehicle to act like he was running my license and registration). As I waited, Officer Batisa went as far as to mute his mic and block the view of his body camera lens in order to hide something he was doing (or not doing) for about three minutes. All of this coincides with the time in the upper right hand corner of his body cam video before getting out of his vehicle to have a side conversation with Officer Porteus on the scene, who also muted his mic.
Officer Batista then walked back to my vehicle (with his mic still muted) as if he was about to hand over my documents, but instead asked me to step out of my vehicle. I explained to Officer Batista that I had not done anything wrong and it was his mistake for pulling me over and assuming that driving in New York State with one Georgia State license plate was illegal.
Officer Batista then suggested again that I get out of my vehicle because he couldn’t hear me. I then gestured with my hand for Officer Batista to come over to the passenger side of my vehicle so that he could hear me. Seeming unsure of what to say next, Officer Batista then stated that my eyes looked a little red and that he just wanted to do a sobriety eye test. I then explained to him that I don’t smoke nor do I drink, but he insisted that I take the test. At this point, I agreed to step out of my vehicle and that’s when things took a turn for the worst.
Once outside of my vehicle I noticed that there were 3-4 more officers on the scene. That’s when Officer Porteus came back and explained to me that because I told him I was coming from Harlem and he ran my license plate and it said I was in Long Island earlier that he would have to let his K-9 dog walk around my vehicle to see if his dog would alert him to the scent of narcotics in or around my vehicle. (Keep in mind, during his grand jury testimony, Officer Batista testified that when the K-9 dog is alerted, it would either scratch or bark at the location where it picked up the scent). The dog then walked around my vehicle approximately three times and never scratched nor barked, but Officer Dipasquale insisted on opening my driver side door and started to search my vehicle anyway. I then yelled out, “I DO NOT CONSENT TO ANYONE SEARCHING MY VEHICLE!.” Officer Porteus then told me “not to worry about that” because it would all be recorded on his body cam, which I never received.
Officer Bastia then told me to turn around so that my vehicle was behind me and no longer visible to me. All I could hear was the doors of my car opening up and the officers searching through my vehicle. At this point, my only concern was simply passing the sobriety test, however, by the time the test was completed to Officer Batista’s liking, I turned around and shortly after I was placed under arrest. Officer Porteus then placed me in the front seat of his SUV. I asked him, “So why’d you guys pull me over again?” and he said, “Well, we pulled you over for multiple reasons, in fact, you were doing 70 in a 55, but your one plate was the most obvious, so we pulled you over for that because you can’t argue that fact.” And we drove to the Troop K Barracks in Poughkeepsie.
Once inside the Barracks, they brought me into one of those interrogation rooms where Officer Porteus read me my Miranda Rights and asked me if I wanted to speak with one of the investigators and I said “No”. Shortly thereafter, Officer Dipasquale whom I told, “I do not consent to you searching my vehicle!”, notified me that he had found a large amount of narcotics in the vehicle, which I wasn’t aware of what they found until that moment. He then warned me that I was facing a lot prison time and asked me if l’d like to cooperate or if I had any information about any larger amounts of drugs in the area in which I declined to cooperate. I asked could I make a phone call. After my call was made, they brought me in front of the judge at the East Fishkill Courthouse, where I was arraigned on an A1 Felony in the 1st Degree (Criminal Possession) and taken to Duchess County Jail without bail.
***The reason why I need to get the truth out is because the story that the New York State Police originally posted on NEWS BREAK and the local News platforms, contradicts what actually happened on September 4th. Officer Batisa testified at the Grand Jury, that I was reckless driving and just recently they changed the whole theory of the case by saying there’s a new reason they pulled me over and nothing is adding up. All I ask is that all of the evidence, body cam and dash cam footage be submitted.*** “
