A MEMBER of Mavado's almost 30-strong entourage who travelled with the popular dancehall artiste to Saturday's Digicel Jamaica Derby at Caymanas Park is now behind bars after assaulting a policeman in the racetrack's official car park.

Fans were ecstatic throughout the artiste's performance, some lighting newspapers in the stand on a day of record turnout at the racetrack in Portmore, St Catherine.

However, it was while Mavado and his entourage were leaving the track that things got really heated.

Reports are that a member of the group assaulted Caymanas Track Limited's (CTL) security boss, Jason McKay, who is also a district constable attached to the St Catherine South Police Division.

The man was wrestled to the ground by McKay and other police on hand, who dragged him off, kicking and screaming, to a waiting police vehicle from where he was taken into custody and charged with assault.

However, it was not an easy task as it took almost 30 minutes for the police on hand to ward off the determined entourage as several members of Mavado's crew attempted to obstruct McKay and other security personnel from making the arrest.

The five-man team eventually warded off their attackers, who were intent on freeing the man in police custody.

The crowd was eventually dispersed without any injury to what had become hundreds of curious onlookers.

McKay, when contacted, confirmed he had come under attack while trying to assist in the arrest of a member of Mavado's party and said was obstructed by several members of the entourage while attempting to take the suspect into custody.

However, he refused to say whether the artiste was directly involved in the altercation.