Justin Bieber has been accused of directly participating in an alleged assault of a man at a night club last weekend.
Wayne Rennalls, a 22-year-old actor-model, claims the 19-year-old took part in an alleged attack outside the South Pointe venue in Southampton, New York at around 03:45 am on August 4.
Police confirmed Rennalls attended the Peconic Bay medical center later that day. He has filed a police report alleging assault against Bieber’s bodyguards that in real terms now includes the teen singer.
Sporting a black eye, the father-of-one addressed a press conference on Friday, August 9, with his lawyer Mark Rudner, to announce he was filing a personal injury lawsuit against Bieber and to give his version of events.
Rennalls claims the singer was one of a group who beat him for “four to five minutes” and that it all began over “jealousy” in the nightclub between him and Bieber eyeing the same women.
To the New York Daily News he claimed: “I got a group of females, like seven on this [left] side and three on this side [right] and one standing behind me,” then said Bieber shined a flashlight at girls he wanted to party with. “The girls I was with, none of them ran to him,” he added.
According to Rennalls, the uproar seen in the video footage of the club parking lot obtained by E! News kicked off when he approached a waitress Bieber was getting acquainted with to ask for the return of a bow tie she had borrowed from him. He claims this annoyed the “Baby” singer and his security team.
“Justin Bieber [was] still running his mouth and I took my shirt off to fight,” Rennalls added.”That’s when they all hopped out of the truck and bum-rushed me. They said, ‘That’s your f***ing a**,’ and the first one came to me, and I put my hands up to fight, to protect myself. He [Bieber] got around and kicked me.”
A witness told the New York Daily News : “Justin left the club with two waitresses. But the guys on the next table were not happy.”
“One of the waitresses… was flirtatiously wearing a bow tie, which one of the guys on the next table had loaned to her.”
A New York Post source said :”As she got into Bieber’s SUV, the guys chased her out, saying they wanted the bow tie back. Bieber’s security pushed back, and a scuffle started.”
“As Bieber and his team drove away, someone threw a rock at his car. Bieber jumped out of the sun roof and got on the hood of the car, while his security knocked the guy to the floor,” the source added.
Video footage of the brawl shows various hostilities in the parking lot. One involving a man who is not yet part of any legal action. Rennalls is seen shirtless, shouting, and aggressively gesturing at the pop star’s bodyguards who stare him down.
Bieber is seen in the footage clambering atop a SUV, running along it then jumping to the ground. He is also being pushed back from the fray at one point by a friend.
At no point in the video is there footage of anyone assaulting Rennalls. Also absent from the clip, is the alleged rock throwing instance by Rennalls alleged by a purported eye-witness to the New York Post.
One of the waitresses who reportedly left the club with Bieber’s crew and another waitress to go on to another location has offered a very different interpretation of Rennall’s behavior that night, and that of his friends.
Sophia Rayo, 32, and her co-worker Diana Bhokasub, 24, were reportedly “handpicked” by Justin to hang out and were also witnesses to the brawl, the New York Daily News reports.
“Everyone is trying to portray Justin in a negative light and he had nothing to do with it,” Rayo says.
“Everyone was involved, we almost got out [of the car],” she added. “It was just some silly thing about a bow tie. It was a dumb thing. Guys just have testosterone.”
The waitress insists there were no sexual intimacies between her, Bieber, and Bhokasub.
Speaking specifically about the video footage, Rayo says it doesn’t show the provocation that was hurled at Bieber and his group.
“The one thing you don’t see in the video is that his friends were calling Justin names, anything that would get a normal person worked up,” the brunette points outs .”And one thing led to another and his friends got knocked to the floor.”
The waitress also says she did not see the “Beauty and a Beat” star tell his bodyguards anything about the alleged victim.
“I personally think the guy was starting with Justin and was aggressive because he wanted to get him involved because it’s Justin Bieber and he’s a celebrity,” Rayo notes . “I think that people start with people sometimes because they want to get hit and look like the big guy in the crew.”
Despite Rennalls’ injuries — in addition to his black eye, he claims he suffered facial cuts, a split lip and bruised ribs — and the very early stage of the investigation, law enforcement sources told the New York Daily News he may not be the victim he claims to be.
“It will likely turn out that Rennalls instigated the fight. One of Justin’s bodyguards was also injured in the confrontation, which has not been reported,” sources told the paper .
Bieber’s rep previously said the singer was “not involved in any altercation” when claims of assault were first made against the singer’s bodyguards.
The spokesperson has not offered a further statement since Rennalls widened his claims.