Ho hum. Another day, another Busta Rhymes brush with the criminal-justice system.

Thursday, the rapper (whose real name is Trevor Smith) was arraigned in Manhattan and charged with the misdemeanor assault of a former driver, Eddie Hatchett.

On Dec. 26, after Rhymes had ignored 19 invoices, Hatchett finally went to his office to request payment – following a Christmas in which the lack of funds left Hatchett too broke to buy presents for his kids.

Rhymes then added injury to insult: With the able assistance of his bodyguards, he beat up Hatchett.

Hatchett should consider himself lucky. The most dangerous place to be in New York is working for – or being anywhere near – Busta Rhymes.

Last February, Israel Ramirez – a Rhymes bodyguard – was shot dead outside a Brooklyn warehouse during the filming of a video.

Thanks to Rhymes’ refusal to assist with the investigation, the crime remains unsolved.

Meanwhile, the rapper is in plea negotiations with Manhattan prosecutors after assaulting a fan who spit on his car in August. After a machete was found in the car, prosecutors added a weapons charge. Now they say that Rhymes is a “violent predicate felon” – a technical legal designation that could mean some very heavy mandatory jail time for Busta.

Rhymes’ lawyer, of course, screams that his client is a victim of the “selective prosecution” of the hip-hop community by the police.

Really? Is that why Rhymes got a $100,000 default judgment against him last month after an assault on yet another fan last year – who had the misfortune of asking for an autograph?

Even by the violent, weapons-strewn “standards” of hip-hop, Rhymes is in a class by himself.

It’s time this thug were put away for a good long time.

At the very least, city corrections officers at the Manhattan Criminal Court shouldn’t be doing him any favors – as they did at his arraignment Thursday.

Though free on a $3,500 bond, Rhymes was allowed to leave by a side entrance and escorted away in a prisoner transportation vehicle – so he could avoid the press outside the building.

Are these court officers nuts?

This guy is a recidivist with a clear penchant for violence.

Don’t ask us – just ask Rhymes’ own employees.

Assuming they’re still alive, of course.

This guy shouldn’t even be free on bail.

Instead, he gets special treatment?

Insane.