BIEBER BUSTED
Teen idol in dock over drug-fuelled supercar race on streets of Miami
HE was once a squeaky-clean, God-fearing, boy-next- door teen idol. But now Justin Bieber’s unedifying transformation into teenage brat seems to have taken another worrying downward lurch.
For the singer was arrested yesterday followed an extraordinary drink and drugs bender which ended with police halting a wild pre- dawn race on the streets of Miami Beach.
Officers stopped the 19-year- old Canadian just after 4am as he and a rapper friend tore through a residential area at 60mph in high-performance sports cars.
His entourage – which reportedly included his father Jeremy – had used other cars to block off the four-lane, palm tree-lined road and create a drag strip to race on.
Police who stopped Bieber’s rented yellow Lamborghini said the multimillionaire teenager reeked of alcohol and looked in a stupor.
He initially refused to get out of the car, babbling incoherently and swearing repeatedly at officers as he was eventually arrested.
His brush with the law began in the early hours when he and friends including blonde model Chantel Jeffries went to the Set nightclub in Miami.
She has reportedly been arrested five times by police, including in February 2011 for assault with a deadly weapon. The 21-year-old, who is originally from Jacksonville, North Carolina, stabbed another woman in the left forearm during a scuffle but the case was dismissed.
She was previously arrested for speeding and fined, according to Radaronline. Bieber now faces up to a year in jail after being charged with several offences including drink-driving and street racing. Rapper Khalil Sharief, 19, who was driving a Ferrari, was also arrested for drink-driving.
Bieber, who confessed to officers that he had spent all day getting high on marijuana and anti- depressants, still managed a smile later as, looking hollow-eyed and spotty, he posed in a prison issue red jumpsuit for his first police mugshot. Bieber later appeared in court via a video link.
He allowed his lawyer Roy Black to
‘A little belligerent’
do all the talking as bail was set at only £1,500.
He was reportedly ‘ crying his eyes out’ when he returned briefly to his cell but was quickly back in celebrity mode as he emerged from the jail afterwards. In a black hoodie and sunglasses, he sat on top of his waiting car and waved to a crowd of fans. He was expected to fly home to California last night in his private jet.
The day’s events marked a new low for a singer whose behaviour has taken a worryingly sharp downturn.
Last March, he antagonised his fans in London by arriving so late for a concert that many had to miss it and he later lashed out at a photographer in a street. In April, he tactlessly sug-
gested that Holocaust victim Anne Frank would have been a Bieber fan and in July he was pictured spitting toward fans from a hotel balcony in Toronto.
Neighbours at his home in the exclusive community of Calabasas, outside Los Angeles, have complained about his anti- social behaviour – throwing loud parties and racing cars.
Earlier this month, police searched his home following allegations that he hurled eggs at a neighbour’s house, causing £12,000 damage.
Police said a substance suspected to be Ecstasy or another synthetic drug was found and one of Bieber’s friends, rapper Xavier Smith, arrested.
Miami police were alerted to the incident by the sound of cars being raced around the streets.
Police chief Raymond Martinez said: ‘It was a cold night, and it was quiet, so the officers could hear the cars. When the cars are going that fast, it takes a while to catch up.’
Bieber was apparently so intoxicated he did not realise he had been breaking the law – the drinking age in Florida is 21.
‘Why did you stop me?’ he asked initially, according to police. When he was asked to step out of the car, he replied: ‘ Why the f*** are you doing this?’
Mr Martinez described Bieber as ‘a little belligerent’ and said he used some ‘choice words’ with police officers.
According to the arrest report, Bieber ‘had slow deliberate movements’ and a look of stupor on his face when the officer ordered him to get out of his car.
He was arrested after repeatedly refusing to put his hands on his vehicle so the officer could pat him down to look for weapons.
After initially telling police he hadn’t been drinking and had been returning from a recording studio, Bieber failed a sobriety test. He then admitted he was under the influence of anti-depressants and alcohol, and had been smoking marijuana, Mr Martinez said.
As well as being charged with racing and drink-driving, Bieber was charged with driving on an expired licence and resisting arrest without violence after he refused to obey commands to keep his hands
‘Slow, deliberate movements’
out of his pockets. He was taken to a local jail in handcuffs to await his court hearing to set bail.
There is no minimum sentence for a first drunken driving offence and a maximum sentence of six months. A first drag racing offence also carries a sentence of up to six months in prison, so Bieber could in theory be jailed for a year. Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine insisted the star would not get special treatment.
His arrest brought to an end a week of hard partying in South Florida that the Bieber camp has chronicled online for his army of fans. At the weekend, the singer spent £45,000 at one Miami strip club alone.
Two Florida police officers are being investigated over claims they gave Bieber an unofficial escort to the strip club after he flew into Miami in a private plane on Monday night.
Bieber’s publicist, Melissa Victor, did not offer an immediate comment about his arrest last night.
His handlers reportedly say the once squeaky- clean practising Christian needs medical help, amid claims he has become a heavy imbiber of a potentially lethal concoction known as ‘sizzurp’ – a mixture of the cough syrup codeine and fizzy drinks.