‘Empire’ Actor Bryshere Gray Arrested After Wife Alleges Domestic Violence
Bryshere Gray, who played Hakeem on the Fox drama Empire, was arrested near Phoenix today after his wife told police he assaulted her for hours and choked her unconscious at their home Sunday night.
Local police said the actor was arrested early Monday outside his home in suburban Goodyear, AZ. Officers said Gray initially refused to come out of the house, so a SWAT team and crisis negotiations were called in to assist.
He was taken into custody without incident a little after 7 a.m, and was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on domestic violence charges.
Goodyear Police said they responded to a 911 call made at about 10:15 p.m. Sunday. The caller said an adult female allegedly told him that she had been assaulted by her husband at their home. She named Gray as the suspect and identified herself as his wife.
In a press release, police said the woman had flagged down a bystander at a local gas station and told the driver that she had been assaulted for several hours. Police said she clearly was injured and told them her husband had choked her to the point where she lost consciousness. The woman was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a local hospital and later released.
Gray appeared in all 102 episodes of Empire, which wrapped its six-year run on Fox in April. He co-starred as Hakeem Lyon, a fame-obsessed rising rapper and youngest son of Lucious and Cookie Lyon (Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson). He earned nominations for BET, Image and Teen Choice awards for the role.
His credits also include the indie features Sprinter, Canal Street and Honey: Rise Up and Dance.
