A trans YouTube influencer named Nikita Dragun was briefly jailed after an altercation in Miami, and actress and model Bella Thorne publicly asked for her release.
Dragun, 26, who was released from jail of her own recognizance on Wednesday, was charged with felony assault of a police officer on Monday, according to NBC News. Dragun has 27 million followers through her social media accounts, and her arrest garnered a lot of attention from around the Internet.
One of the main points of contention following the arrest was Dragun being placed in the men’s jail and not the women’s one.
Thorne is an active supporter of human rights, and in an interview with ABC a few years ago she revealed she was pansexual, after initially coming out as bisexual.
“I’m actually a pansexual, and I didn’t know that,” she said, adding that pansexual means “you like what you like.”
“Doesn’t have to be a girl, or a guy, or … you know, a he, a she, a this, or that,” Thorne said. “It’s literally, you like personality, like you just like a being.”
It’s not known if the two had a personal relationship or if Thorne was aware of Dragun’s release, but several people commented on the tweet that Dragun was no longer in jail.
Dragun’s PR rep Jack Ketsoyan said Dragun was placed in the men’s side of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami on Monday.
“This decision made by the Miami-Dade County Corrections Department directly violates their protocol, which mandates that transgender inmates are classified and housed based on safety needs and gender identity. Nikita has been released and is now safe. Thank you for respecting her privacy during this time.”
An arrest affidavit cited by NBC News said that hotel security was forced to call police after Dragun was “causing a disturbance and being extremely disorderly” and “walking around the pool area unclothed.” When hotel staff asked Dragun to stop, she allegedly threw a bottle of water at them.
Police then went to Dragun’s room, they said, and heard loud music coming from inside. When Dragun opened the door police told her she could potentially be removed from the hotel grounds. Police said she shut the door on them and then opened it and said “Do you want more?”
After that, she flung an open water bottle at police and hotel staff, and the police said that caused “the water to hit and spill on” one of the officers and the hotel staff. She was then arrested.
Dragun has been open about her mental health struggles in the past. Last year in December she shared that she was involuntarily committed at a psychiatric facility for eight days beginning on Thanksgiving.
“I was administered into a Psychiatric Behavioral Health Hospital involuntarily,” she said at the time. “I was drugged so intensely I couldn’t even keep my eyes open for days.”
Dragun also claimed in May that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. This is one of the hardest things for me to talk about,” she shared in a now-deleted YouTube video. “In some ways, I feel guilty for feeling this way. Today, I would like to share that I am bipolar and it feels really great to say that.”
Before her arrest on Monday Dragun got into a separate altercation at Club Liv with Black V Neck, a Miami DJ. Black V Neck told NBC News that Dragun tried to steal a liquor bottle and shoved him. Dragun also tweeted about the dust-up on Monday before her arrest.
“Bottom line. i see a man put hands on a woman. please ‘call the cops.’ cus need u forget. i know i look like a Doll on the outside, but i still hit like a Dude,” Dragun said.
Published: Nov 10, 2022 04:19 pm