Rapper and Lil Wayne protege Lil Twist was reportedly driving Justin Bieber’s car when a paparazzo was struck and killed by an SUV.
Although the car belonged to the Canadian pop star, Lil Twist, the 19-year-old rapper was behind the wheel when a California Highway Patrol officer pulled the vehicle over. According to TMZ , Bieber and Lil Twist had been hanging out at the Four Seasons prior to the accident.
At some point on Tuesday afternoon, the rapper decided to leave the hotel with Bieber’s car. At around 6 pm, the vehicle was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol. It was around this time that the tragic incident took place.
The Los Angeles Times reports that a photographer attempted to get a shot of the singer’s Ferrari after the officer had stopped the car. After getting the pics, the man then attempted to cross the street to return to his car. He was struck by an SUV in the process.
The photographer later died from his injuries at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
The Inquisitr previously reported that Justin Bieber is hoping the incident will help inspire new laws to help control the actions of the paparazzi. The singer recently issued a statement about the accident to the public.
The singer said:
“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.”
Sean Burke, the founder of the Paparazzi Reform Initiative, is also interested in getting new laws in place to help keep incidents like this from happening in the future.
Burke said in a statement :
“While we oppose the aggressive and invasive tactics employed by many paparazzi, we are greatly saddened by the death of the paparazzo hit by a car in Los Angeles this morning and our thoughts and prayers are with his or her family. We, and others in the entertainment industry, have warned that unless reform is enacted regarding the collision of celebrity vs paparazzi, someone else would be hurt or killed. That it was a member of the paparazzi doesn’t lessen the tragedy of this accident in any way … I can only hope that today’s events will bring better understanding to the various issues at play in the Wild West atmosphere that commonly manifests when paparazzi are in pursuit of a celebrity.”
Are you a fan of Lil Twist? Do you think new laws would help control photographers looking to get pictures of celebrities?