STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Wu-Tang Clan cohort who once worked with hip hop's biggest names drove the car in a New Brighton hit-and run crash ...
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Wu-Tang Clan cohort who once worked with hip hop's biggest names drove the car in a New Brighton hit-and run crash that killed a 29-year-old bakery worker New Year's Day, according to police sources.nnShyheim Franklin, 36, who has rapped under the names Manchild, Little Shyheim and The Rugged Child, surrendered himself to police on Wednesday in connection with the 5:07 a.m. crash, which killed Felipe Avila of Tompkinsville, police sources said.nnHe's expected to face a charge of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, which is a class D felony, those sources said.nIn this video, Franklin makes plea on YouTube, asking fans to help pay for his legal defense.nnThat morning, Avila was headed to work at the Rosamaria Bakery on Vreeland Avenue in Port Richmond, driving a black 1996 Toyota Celica on Lafayette Avenue, Richmond Terrace-bound.nnFranklin, meanwhile, was driving east on Cassidy Place in a 2003 Volvo S80 belonging to a close friend, police sources said. Police sources also allege Franklin blew through a stop sign and slammed into Avila's car, then hit a parked Dodge Ram before getting out of the Volvo and running off.nnSources said Franklin left blood in the Volvo and on the driver's side airbag.nnFranklin was out on $10,000 bail at the time of the crash, after his April arrest on gun and drug possession charges.nnFranklin put out his first album at 15 years old. He's worked with RZA and Tupac Shakur and shared the stage at Madison Square Garden with The Notorious B.I.G., and he has a film and television resume.nnHe also has a lengthy criminal history that includes serving 16 months of a two-year prison sentence for a 2002 second-degree attempted robbery conviction.nnStories in the Advance archive and public records also detail his criminal history and his past brushes with violence. He was the victim of a slashing in 1997, and in 1998, he received probation after he was found with a gun stolen from the LAPD six years prior.nnIn 1999, a 15-year-old boy was shot to death at a Stapleton nightclub during a release party for one of Franklin's CDs.nnHis arrest in April stemmed from a police search of his 185 St. Mark's Place apartment in St. George -- members of the Staten Island Gang Squad found a loaded .32 caliber Serrifile Inc. Terrier One revolver under his mattress, 41 glassines of heroin in a safe under his bed, a Xanax pill in a plastic zipper bag on his bedside table, and a scale alongside empty bags and glassines under his bed, court papers allege.nnThat case is still pending. Less
