Levert Pleads Guilty

Gerald Levert pleaded guilty July 27th to two misdemeanor charges stemming from a scuffle with Cleveland police during a February 25th traffic stop.

Levert apologized and admitted to a charge of assault and attempted obstruction of official business. He was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $2,000.

The R&B singer and a passenger in his car, James Austin, tried to intervene when officers stopped a friend of Levert’s for speeding. Levert reportedly pulled out a New Orleans police courtesy badge and tried to talk the officer into letting his friend go.

When that didn’t work, the performer allegedly swore and jerked his arm away from an officer’s grasp, and Austin punched another officer, according to Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer.

Levert still has a pending drunken-driving charge from the incident, the paper said.