Photographer sues Bieber for assault
A photographer sued Justin Bieber and one of his bodyguards for assault and infliction of emotional distress over an altercation on a Hawaiian beach last year.
The lawsuit by paparazzo Aja Oxman states Bieber ordered his bodyguard to take a memory card after the photographer took photos of the pop singer leaping from a cliff into the ocean.
Bodyguard Dwayne Patterson placed Mr Oxman in a chokehold and seriously injured him and damaged his camera during the November incident, the lawsuit states.
The complaint seeks unspecified damages in excess of 25,000 dollars (£15,000) for assault and battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Patterson was arrested on suspicion of assault and later charged with second-degree robbery.
He pleaded no contest to criminal property damage and harassment and was ordered to pay Mr Oxman 6,000 dollars (£3,600) in restitution, court records show, which he has done.
Bieber, 20, was not arrested, and no charges were filed against him due to a lack of evidence that he ordered Patterson to attack Mr Oxman, Kauai County Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar said.
The lawsuit does not accuse Bieber of taking part in the assault, but it states the singer helped his bodyguard destroy the camera.
Earlier this month, Bieber pleaded guilty to charges of careless driving and resisting arrest in a Miami case filed after the singer was arrested in what police called an illegal drag race in January.
Bieber had been charged with driving under the influence, but he entered the plea to lesser charges.
In July, the singer resolved a Los Angeles criminal case by pleading no contest to a vandalism charge for throwing eggs at a neighbour’s house.
In that case, Bieber agreed to pay more than 80,000 dollars (£48,000) in damages and meet a number of other conditions.
In addition to Mr Oxman’s lawsuit, Bieber is being sued by other photographers who accuse him of roughing them up.
One case remains pending in Miami, and another paparazzo sued Bieber for assault and battery in June last year over an altercation at a shopping centre in the celebrity enclave of Calabasas. The case is scheduled for trial in December.
