A singer with a substantial social media following found herself cuffed and on the pavement after Sunny Isles Beach Police stopped her for driving with a fraudulent diplomatic license plate. Cecilia Selina Mercado, known as Sessi to her over 195,000 Instagram followers, was driving a 2014 white Audi Q5 on Tuesday when she made an illegal traffic maneuver, according to a report by the Miami Herald. Police said she drove through a "right turn only" lane which led to the stop.
The situation escalated when Mercado, after being asked to exit the vehicle, refused and claimed she had "immunity rights" and could not provide a driver’s license, police said that the tag on her Audi claimed she was a "diplomat" and an "ambassador at large," as first noted in a statement obtained by NBC Miami. A tense video of the incident taken by her passenger features the officer opening Mercado’s car door, a scuffle ensuing, as the passenger repeatedly yells, "I feel threatened!" before Mercado is taken to the ground and handcuffed.
Throughout the encounter, the passenger is heard asserting that Mercado is not a U.S. citizen and the officers have "no jurisdiction" over her, claims that culminated with the officer removing Mercado from her vehicle and the passenger warning of legal consequences and job loss for the involved officers, according to the video published by Only in Dade on Instagram. "You are going to get fired from your job and she is going to get $250,000," the passenger told the officers. "I will see you in court, I will see you in court. Hey, if you wanna play, I will see you in court."
The police later verified the diplomatic plate as counterfeit after checking with the U.S. State Department, leading to Mercado's arrest on charges of driving with a counterfeit license plate, and she was booked at Miami-Dade County's Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, police stated and she was released after posting a $2,500 bond, reports obtained by the Miami Herald indicate. In a statement, Sunny Isles Beach Police noted that the released video "does not capture the full incident from beginning to end" and mentioned the traffic violations and the counterfeit tag that led to Mercado's arrest, as per the official statement.
