Last May, Justin Bieber lost his sh*t and got carried away punching and kicking a photographer in a parking lot scuffle. Charges were dropped. In December, he threw a water bottle at the nosy paparazzo. But he got away with it. This time, the young superstar’s (or rather, his car’s) ordeal with the unnecessarily prying media came to an all-time low when a paparazzi photographer was struck by a car and killed.
The incident happened yesterday in Los Angeles when Justin’s white Ferrari, driven by his friend, was pulled over for a traffic stop on the 405 Freeway and redirected to a nearby street. The photographer, who was reportedly not a professional, arrived at the street, and crossed it to take some photos of Justin’s car.
In a sick twist of fate, the paparazzi was hit by a vehicle as he returned to his car. The driver stopped and tried to give first aid to the photographer – as yet unnamed – but he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital shortly afterwards.
Justin was not at the scene. He did, however, offer his condolences to the photographer’s family in a statement:
While I was not present nor directly involved with this tragic accident, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim. Hopefully this tragedy will finally inspire meaningful legislation and whatever other necessary steps to protect the lives and safety of celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders and the photographers themselves.
We’ve got to give it to Justin for putting aside his famed tense relationship with the paparazzi to say that much. As for reckless paparazzi, well, it’s about time they drew the line somewhere!
Safety first, no?
(Source)
