Justin Bieber’s security team are reportedly claiming to have video evidence that supports the scenario that the singer was not driving his white Ferrari at freeway speeds on a 25 mph road in his Calabsas, Los Angeles neighborhood on Monday.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detectives are currently investigating the 19-year-old for alleged reckless driving after witnesses — including former-NFL player Keyshawn Johnson — accused the teen star of speeding in their gated community.
According to TMZ , sources close to the investigation say Bieber’s security team have told the police they have a video that shows rapper-producer Tyler, The Creator was driving the Ferrari at the time of the alleged incident.
Reportedly, the video has not yet been presented to police as evidence.
This latest development appears to come after TMZ posted a video on Friday of Johnson repeatedly stating that he witnessed Bieber speeding in his Ferrari on Memorial Day.
In the clip, the ESPN analyst strongly criticized the Canadian’s alleged reckless driving and history of conduct in the Calabasas neighborhood.
“You’ve got a 19-year-old kid, you know, feeling entitled speeding up and down the highway. That’s why all the neighbors is mad,” the 40-year-old said .”Then, you’ve got him spitting on people in the neighborhood you can’t do that. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be.”
When asked if he saw actually Bieber driving his Ferrari on May 27, the ex-wide receiver replied:
“Look man, I know the difference between a black kid driving a car and a white kid driving a car.” Johnson added .”I”ve got bi-racial kids, okay, my girlfriend is white. I know the difference. Okay, I know the difference.”
Pressed by the website on whether he chased the singer to his Calabasas home, Johnson did not answer that query directly, but said:
“I got a chance to see him driving the car, lets put it that way. He [Bieber] was sitting in the driver’s seat.”
Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore previously said Johnson and another resident witnessed Bieber speed past them at around 8 pm on Monday. Johnson, who was with his three-year-old daughter at the time, took his child back inside a Calabasas location and followed the Ferrari in his Prius.
On arriving at Bieber’s house, Johnson confronted the singer as he was backing his car into his garage, telling Bieber he wanted to talk to him about his driving. But the teen star hurried into his home without speaking, Whitmore said .
However, the singer’s camp have reportedly said he only got into the driver’s seat of the Ferrari after arriving at his house in order to back it into the garage. Johnson’s later response to that claim on TMZ’s video is scathing.
Sheriff’s deputies who went to Bieber’s house in response to two separate calls from Calabasas residents about his alleged speeding were turned away from the door by security, who told the police the pop star had been advised by counsel not to talk.
While the number of witnesses claiming to have seen Bieber speeding varies in different media reports, L.A. police say they have two witnesses on record.
“Their eyewitness testimony to our deputies was definitive — not only the speed, not only the vehicle, but Mr. Bieber was sitting and driving in the driver’s side seat,” Whitmore said.
Deputies will send a reckless driving report to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to consider filing misdemeanor charges within the next week or two, AP reports .
Whitmore has also issued a direct challenge to the singer through the media.
“Mr. Bieber is making statements through others that he was not driving. If he wants to set the record straight, contact us for a sit-down, thorough interview. He has to ask himself this question, ‘If you have nothing to hide, why not talk to us?’ ”
As yet, Bieber’s publicist has not returned media calls for comment on the new investigation or the ongoing battery investigation against the “Baby” singer in which another Calabasas neighbor claims the teen spat at and threatened to kill him during a heated March argument over an alleged reckless driving instance and parties allegedly held at the teen’s home while he was on tour.
In his most recent interview with US Collector Edition Magazine , Bieber said :
“This business can break you down, but I have my family and my fans. The love overcomes the negativity.”
For this embattled idol, it remains to be seen whether that will be enough to withstand the current media frenzy.