Video shows Bieber frisked after Miami Beach arrest

Lily

B.R
Staff member
After Justin Bieber was arrested in Miami Beach, he got the same “backstage” treatment as any other arrestee, judging by surveillance video newly released by police — in violation of the law and prior to Bieber’s lawyers being notified of its existence, says his legal team, which is now trying to prevent any more images from releasing.

In the video, a barefoot Bieber removes his sweatshirt and “assumes the position,” hands on a table as he leans forward with his legs spread. The officer pulls him back slightly using the singer’s baggy shorts as a handle, then proceeds to conduct the patdown, searching the Biebs’ pockets in the process. Bieber pauses to adjust the front of his hair after taking off the sweatshirt.

Lawyers for pop star Justin Bieber are asking a judge to prevent semi-clad images of the teenage singer in Miami Beach police custody from being released to the media, according to a motion filed late on Friday.

“While in custody at the Miami Beach police station the defendant was captured on videotape in various states of undress which show intimate personal parts of the defendant’s body,” the motion states, noting that the Florida constitution and state law prevent such images from being publicly disclosed.


Bieber, 19, was charged with driving under influence, resisting arrest and using an expired license after police say they caught him allegedly drag racing on January 23. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He also had marijuana and prescription medication for anxiety in his system at the time of his arrest, according to the state attorney’s office.

On Friday, Bieber’s Miami lawyers Black, Srebnick, Kornspan & Stumpf, said they learned from the state attorney’s office that various news media outlets had filed public records requests for all videotape footage from Bieber’s time in detention.

The Miami Beach police and the state attorney’s office were not immediately available to comment.

It was after the patdown that he switched into orange jail garb and posed for his megawatt-smile mug shot.

Bieber was of course arrested in the early morning hours January 23 on suspicion of DUI, resisting arrest and driving without a valid license. Even though the stop was reportedly because police thought drag racing was going on, Bieber was not charged with anything of that nature. GPS data later showed that Bieber’s rented Lamborghini and the red Ferrari that police stopped at the same time did not get to racing speeds.

The Miami Beach Police Department, on its Twitter feed earlier this week, directed attention to a WSVN-TV report in which the drag-racing issue and other details of the arrest were addressed.

“What the public has to understand is that the officer described his actions as drag racing, but he was not charged with drag racing,” said Police Chief Raymond Martinez. “This is a residential street, Pine Tree Drive, where the speed limit is 48 kmp/h, and if you can imagine, at 4am in the morning, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari going from zero to 40, opening up those engines. That’s what drew the officers’ attention to their actions.”

He also explained how Bieber could, according to the police report, reek of alcohol even though he blew only 0.014 on a blood alcohol breath test: The odour could have come from his clothing, if an alcoholic beverage had been spilled on it.

Bieber, who has pleaded not guilty to the three misdemeanour charges, has a March 3 trial date.
 
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