Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

Paparazzo killed by oncoming traffic after photographing Justin Bieber's Ferrari


dudeone

Recommended Posts

Paparazzo killed by oncoming traffic after photographing Justin Bieber's Ferrari

By Ben Brumfield and KJ Matthews, CNN

updated 7:18 PM EST, Wed January 2, 2013

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/02/showbiz/california-bieber-paparazo-death/index.html

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Paparazzi have had nasty run-ins with pop star Justin Bieber,

including a high-speed chase in July that prompted a city councilman to predict that such an encounter could end tragically.

It happened Tuesday.

A photographer who thought he spied Bieber sitting in his parked white Ferrari was struck and killed by oncoming traffic as he walked across a Los Angeles street to get back to his car after snapping photos.

An opportune picture of the 18-year-old celebrity can rake in hard currency, but Bieber was not in the car at the time of the New Year's Day incident.

California Highway Patrol officers had pulled over Bieber's vehicle Tuesday evening near an off-ramp of Interstate 405.

The photographer, 29, spotted the sports car stopped on Sepulveda Boulevard, parked his own vehicle across the street, crossed to get closer to Bieber's car and took photos of its occupants, Los Angeles police said.

Officers told the man twice to return to his car,

CNN affiliate KTLA reported.

An SUVstruck the paparazzo as he was returning across the street to leave, Stoughton said.

Authorities have not released his name. Police said in a statement that the driver of the SUV, a 69-year-old woman, stayed at the scene. There was no evidence that the woman was driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, authorities said.

"While I was not present nor directly involved with this tragic accident, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim," Bieber said in a statement.

"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."

In July, a group of paparazzi chased Bieber in separate vehiclesdown a freeway, whizzing past a Los Angeles city councilman, Dennis Zine, a reservist on the LAPD.

"He was coming up behind me, making abrupt lane changes, not giving signals, cutting off cars," Zine said. The photographers were keeping up with Bieber, thick on his heels.

Zine said he expected to see a crash and feared someone could die.

The lawmaker, known for supporting tough measures against obnoxious paparazzi behavior, alerted the highway patrol, who ticketed Bieber for speeding in his Fisker Karma, an expensive plug-in hybrid sports car.

A photographer was slapped with criminal charges, including reckless driving.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...