Cardi B Video Shoot
Photog Clashes With Security
Cuffed By NYPD
A 70-year-old photographer found himself in handcuffs during a Cardi B music video shoot in Brooklyn on Monday. According to law enforcement, Steven Sands disrupted the production in Sunset Park, where the rapper had obtained a proper permit to film. Things escalated quickly when Sands refused to comply with instructions from both security and NYPD, resulting in his detention and a disorderly conduct summons.
Sands allegedly bypassed police barriers and ignored repeated orders from Cardi’s security team to stay in his designated area. Police say he continued acting up even after being warned, which prompted officers to handcuff him and place him in a patrol car. Video footage shared on Instagram captured the moment he was restrained, though authorities later released him without making an arrest.
Sands has a different account of what happened. He claims he arrived at the shoot before Cardi B showed up and was initially given instructions by a security guard about managing the crowd. When Sands asked to move just 10 feet to an open area where he could get a better angle, the guard refused, telling him the artist wouldn’t approve of the repositioning.
That’s when tensions boiled over. Sands told the guard he didn’t care what Cardi wanted and pushed back on the restriction. His blunt response apparently didn’t sit well with security, and the situation deteriorated from there. Police were called, and the situation culminated in Sands being cuffed and issued a criminal court summons for disorderly conduct.
The incident captures a common friction point between photographers and celebrity security details on set. What started as a positioning dispute turned into a full-blown police matter, leaving Sands with a summons and a story that will probably circulate through industry circles for a while.
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