Justin Bieber has been sued by a Toronto-based limo driver who claims Bieber hit him in the head six times because he wouldn’t turn up the volume on the vehicle radio.
The limo driver is asking for $850,000 in the civil suit, the Toronto Star notes.
However, there is a major inconsistency in the driver’s story regarding the ethnic race of his alleged attacker, which reportedly undermines the credibility of his claim, TMZ reports.
According to the site, on December 30, 2013, Abdul Mohar picked up Justin Bieber along with five males from outside a club in Toronto, Canada. At some point during the journey, Mohar stopped the limo and called 911. He allegedly told a dispatcher that he had been smacked in the head by a black man.
According to TMZ , by the time the police arrived at the scene, Mohar’s story had changed and he told officers that his alleged assailant “looked like a Justin[e] Bieber kind of guy.”
Despite Abdul Mohar’s changing testimony, Bieber was subsequently ordered to surrender at a Toronto police station to be charged with criminal assault, based on the limo driver’s claim.
This, the singer did on January 29, 2014, amid a scrum of screaming fans, journalists, and paparazzi.
That same day, Bieber’s attorney, Howard Weitzman, released a statement insisting that the singer was “innocent” of the alleged assault .
The National Post also reported witnesses corroborated Bieber’s “innocence.”
Fast forward to September 8, 2014, following months of procedural hearings, the judge in a Toronto court agreed to withdraw the one count of assault against Bieber after the crown said there was no reasonable chance of conviction.
At the time, prosecutor David Mitchell told the judge that, “The Crown would be required to prove that an intentional application of force occurred, as well as who applied that force.”
Mitchell added, “There were a number of people in the vehicle seated behind the driver at the time of the incident, and the Crown is not in a position to establish the identification of the person who came into contact with the complainant beyond a reasonable doubt based on the evidence available.”
At the time, Bieber’s Canadian lawyer, Brian H. Greenspan, told press outside the Toronto court that Bieber was “relieved” to be cleared, the National Post reported.
Greenspan added, “This is an example of the system working effectively and properly” and went on to say that he was “pleased” with the decision.
He also noted that it had always been the defense’s position that Bieber was innocent and that the case had no merit.
When asked by one reporter who he thought had allegedly assaulted the limousine driver, Greenspan said they believed the driver was not assaulted by anyone connected with the singer — if at all.
At the time of the incident, Toronto Police Constable Victor Kwong said he believed Bieber was in the limo at the time of the alleged attack, but added, “But whether he’s the guy who did the actual assaulting, I don’t know.”
The Inquisitr will be following the progress of the Abdul Mohar vs. Justin Bieber case.
However, it remains to be seen whether this civil lawsuit has legs or presents as a money grab, given the reported glaring inconsistency of Mohar’s initial identification of the race of his alleged assailant as black.
Let us know your views in comments below.
[Images via Getty Images]