LOS ANGELES (AP) – A photographer sued Justin Bieber and one of his bodyguards yesterday for assault and infliction of emotional distress over an altercation on 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 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 US$25 000 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 Oxman $6 000 in restitution, court records show. Patterson’s conviction won’t remain on his record if he does not get into further trouble, records show.
Bieber, 20, was not arrested, and no charges were filed against him due to a lack of evidence that he ordered Patterson to attack Oxman, Kauai County Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar said yesterday. Kollar said Patterson had fully paid restitution to Oxman.
Email messages sent to Bieber’s publicist Melissa Victor and attorney Howard Weitzman were not immediately returned. A phone message left for attorney Craig De Costa, who represented Patterson in the criminal case, was not immediately returned.
Oxman’s lawsuit does not accuse Bieber of taking part in the assault, but it states the singer helped his bodyguard destroy the camera.
