Pop star Justin Bieber was pulled over for speeding down a Los Angeles freeway in his flashy but environmentally friendly sports car last Friday and police said they were investigating reports that he was being chased by paparazzi photographers.
The 18-year-old singer was driving his chrome-bodied Fisker Karma, a luxury hybrid-electric roadster, west of downtown Los Angeles, when he was stopped by California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers.
The Canadian-born performer told officers he was being chased on the freeway by paparazzi, but a second car that police saw pursuing the performer’s automobile at high speed got away without being stopped, a Highway Patrol spokesman said.
Bieber, whom police described as polite and co-operative when pulled over, was issued a traffic ticket for speeding and was released, CHP spokesman Saul Gomez said. He added that Bieber was cited for driving 129 km per hour 105 kph zone.
But a Los Angeles city councilman who happened to be driving on that portion of the freeway at the time said the Fisker Karma that roared past him was doing at least 160 kph while darting aggressively from one lane to another, with a pack of five or six other cars in hot pursuit.
“He was driving in a careless, reckless fashion,” Councilman Dennis Zine said.
“Just because he’s a celebrity doesn’t mean he can endanger life and property,” said Zine, a 40-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department who is still registered as an LAPD reserve officer.
Neither Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, nor his record label publicist, Melissa Victor, was immediately available for comment.
