Former Wu-Tang Clan affiliate Shyheim plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter Thursday for causing a fatal hit-and-run accident on New Year’s Day in New Brighton, Staten Island.
The incident claimed the life of a bakery worker Felipe Avila Olea. According to SiLive, Shyheim, born Shyheim Franklin, also pleaded guilty to a weapon-possession charge, which stemmed from an arrest in which cops found a loaded gun and drugs in his apartment last April. Both guilty pleas were to the top counts against Shyheim in separate indictments.
Prosecutors in the second-degree manslaughter case allege Franklin was speeding and didn’t stop at a stop sign before slamming into Olea’s 1996 Toyota Celica on the early morning hours of January 1. He smashed into a parked Dodge Ram after hitting the victim’s car, fled the scene, and left his blood and his watch on the driver’s side airbag, law enforcement sources said.
Shyheim surrendered to police on January 8. Last April, he told HipHopDX he was innocent and that police didn’t follow legal procedure.
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“Of course you know the NYPD have a history of not flying straight, you know what I’m saying?” he said. “There’s a lot of illegal stuff that went down in the procedures that wasn’t supposed to take place but my attorneys is on it and you know we gonna fight.”
Shyheim was perhaps most famous for his affiliation with Wu-Tang Clan, especially during their earlier years. In 1994, he released his debut album AKA the Rugged Child at only 14 years of age. He has also shared the stage with Notorious B.I.G andTupac.
RELATED:Shyheim Arrested In Connection With Fatal Hit-And-Run
