Justin Bieber will not be charged in an alleged hit and run case for hitting a paparazzo with his Ferrari.
The singer was accused by a paparazzo of pinning the photographer between his Ferrari and a parked car as he drove away from the Laugh Factory comedy club at 8001 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood on June 17.
At the time, paparazzi surrounded Bieber and his companion rapper Lil Twist as they left the club.
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined on Wednesday to file criminal charges against the singer over the incident.
At the time the 19-year-old failed to stop but later claimed via his lawyer that he had been unaware he had hit anyone.
Authorities investigated whether Bieber had knowingly left the scene of an accident after his run-in with a photographer, Damon Walter.
The singer pulled away from the curb through a “clear path” when Lee “suddenly stepped in front of” the vehicle, said prosecutors.
As a result, Walter was struck in the leg and briefly pinned between Bieber’s car and a parked car.
In video footage obtained, Lee then dropped his camera and fell to the ground clutching his leg.
He was subsequently taken to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries before being released.
Officers on-site determined Walter was “at fault in the collision due to being in the roadway and blocking Bieber’s vehicle,” the filing rejection document stated.
Prosecutors essentially said that given the context of the chaos, Bieber’s claim that he didn’t know he hit anyone as he was leaving the club was both “reasonable and credible.”
The rejection filing document also noted: “There were over a dozen paparazzi surrounding his car and on the sidewalk, and it was noisy with camera flashes and bright lights surrounding him.”
“Given the scene and the stress of the situation, it is likely that Bieber did not know he had hit Walter.”
At first reported as, and thought to be a hit and run , a preliminary investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department determined otherwise.
During the initial investigation in June, LAPD spokesman Bruce Borihanh said:
“It was not a hit and run,” adding that the paparazzo’s injury was not life-threatening.
On June 17, one day after the incident, Bieber wrote on Twitter:
sometimes u just wanna go to a comedy club and have a laugh. no trouble. just want to laugh.
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) June 18, 2013