One of Wednesday night’s highlights from the American Idol auditions in Atlanta was Antonio Wheeler (A.K.A. “Skiiboski”). He can sing, but he seems to have a bit of a troubled past.
Wheeler went to court back in 2006 to try and sue the city of Orlando and police officer Peter Linnekamp for damages related to “mental suffering, embarrassment” and “severe emotional distress”.
It seems that Wheeler alleges that he was strapped to a gurney after telling police that he had swallowed some crack and then refusing to submit to a urine test. He became violent so, in an effort to force Wheeler to submit to catheterization, he was tasered multiple times by officer Linnekamp.
Wheeler says the officer had no right to taser him, however the jury later ruled in favor of the police department.
As the trial went on, questions came up regarding Wheeler’s mental competency. On December 9, 2005 the court had Wheeler undergo a court-ordered competency exam. Wheeler then tried to have those records sealed, but his motion was denied in 2007.
Wheeler failed to impress Simon Cowell, but did manage to make enough of an impression on the other American Idol judges to get through to Hollywood with his version of a Marvin Gaye hit.
Season 9 is already off to an intriguing start, don’t you think?
More American Idol news here
More Taser Madness here
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