Justin Timberlake petitions court to stop DWI video footage going public
Topics: Celebrity, Police, Music, Justin Timberlake
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Topics: Celebrity, Police, Music, Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake has revealed his aim to petition the court from releasing footage of his 2024 DWI arrest, which saw the Sexy Back singer held by police in the middle of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour.
Timberlake was arrested on June 18, and was arraigned on the same day after his car was allegedly seen running a stop sign in the Hamptons.
Because of this, police pulled him over to see Timberlake behind the wheel.
While he went on to claim he had only consumed one drink, he had also 'performed poorly' during a sobriety test, according to police and also refuse a breathalyzer test, claimed Page Six.
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In response to the incident, Timberlake said during a press statement: “Even if you've had one drink, don't get behind the wheel of a car... This is a mistake I made, but I hope whoever's watching and listening right now can learn from this mistake. I certainly have."
While Timberlake's mugshot was released by police and went viral on social media, the singer’s attorney is trying to stop the same thing happening to footage of his arrest.
His lawyers, Edward Burke Jr. and Michael J. Del Piano, filed the petition, which was reviewed by Entertainment Weekly in Suffolk County Supreme Court, which was levied after individuals and entities sought to obtain the footage of his arrest and time in jail at the Sag Harbor Police Department via Freedom of Information Law requests.
The requests are available to make for any publicly accessible information that isn’t protected under a court ruling.
This could be prison records, marriage records, births, and more.
The petition has therefore asked the court to hold it, or to make sure it is ‘redacted to the maximum extent permitted by law.’
"Disclosure of these materials would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy," the petition states per EW.
The lawyers argued that the video footage contains some scenes of the inside of Timberlake’s car as well as the inside of the jail, which would ‘serve primarily to invade privacy and cause unwarranted embarrassment,’ and to ‘inform the public about governmental operations or the performance of official duties.’
The petition goes on to alleged the video footage would ‘cause economic and personal hardship and substantial injury’ due to the possibility of exposing him to ‘public ridicule and harassment’ that would lead to ‘severe and irreparable harm’ to this 'professional reputation.’
Last year, Timberlake was charged with one count of driving while intoxicated, for which he was handed two citations for running a stop sign and for straying from his lane.
He also had his license suspended, and plead guilty to a lesser charge.
UNILAD reached out to the representatives of Justin Timberlake for comment.