Ike Turner Jr., son of Ike and Tina Turner, arrested on cocaine charge

Los Angeles Times Showbiz News Jun - 22 - 2023 , 10:19 2 minutes read

Ike Turner Jr., son of late musicians Ike and Tina Turner, was arrested in Texas last month on suspicion of possessing crack cocaine and tampering with evidence, People magazine reported Wednesday.

Police in Alvin, Texas, detained the 64-year-old after finding 1.7 grams of crack cocaine and .7 grams of methamphetamine in his possession, according to People magazine. Ike Turner Jr., who is also a musician, was sentenced to jail 18 days before his mother died at age 83 on May 24.

Turner was driving a white 2013 Ford Fusion when officers pulled him over for an equipment violation because his headlight or taillight was out, police said. Capt. Q.T. Arendell of the Alvin Police Department told People that officers confiscated the drugs after they discovered Turner trying to eat them “before officers could seize them from him.”

Turner is currently being held at Brazoria County Jail on $70,000 bail, People reported. A passenger in the car, Jessica Salinas-Esquivel, was also charged with possessing a controlled substance (methamphetamines), according to an incident report reviewed by the celebrity news outlet.

People, as well as The Times, was unable to reach an attorney for the musician.

Ike and Tina Turner shared four children, including Ike Turner Jr. The legendary “Proud Mary” singer welcomed her first child, Craig, with saxophonist Raymond Hill before marrying Ike Turner and adopting his two sons, Ike Jr. and Michael, from a previous relationship. Ike Turner in turn adopted Craig before the spouses and musical partners welcomed their only biological son, Ronnie.

Craig died by suicide in 2018, and Ronnie died of complications related to late-stage cancer, as well as cardiovascular disease, in December.

Ike Turner died from a cocaine overdose in 2007. Tina Turner divorced him in the late 1970s. In interviews and her 1986 autobiography, she described various ways Ike Turner had abused her.

After his parents separated, Turner worked briefly as a sound engineer for his mother. But he told the Daily Mail in 2018 that his father did not approve of him working with the “What’s Love Got to Do With It” artist and beat him in the head “with a nickel-played .45 pistol” as punishment. Turner revealed in the same interview that he hadn’t spoken with his mother in nearly two decades.

According to People, Turner recently released music as part of a tribute group, the Love Thang Band.