When Justin Bieber was pulled over and subsequently arrested last week, the whole premise was that his entourage blocked off the ends of a residential road so Justin and Khalil Sharieff could drag race in their Lamborghinis. Now it seems that wasn’t how the incident really happened…
In the official affidavit from the Miami Beach Police Department, the arresting officer said he “observed two black SUVs behind both vehicles as if to stop traffic going northbound.” He believed this was to facilitate an open road for Justin and Khalil to drag race. The officer then saw the two cars “start a contest of speed” and “attained an approximate speed of about 55-60 MPH.” This exceeded the posted 30 MPH speed limit, so he had grounds to perform a traffic stop.
On the morning of the arrest, Miami Beach Police Chief Raymond Martinez really emphasized the drag racing angle: “When the cars are going that fast, it takes a while to catch up.”
Independent records paint a different picture…
Based on GPS records obtained by TMZ, Justin’s rented Lamborghini was only going 27 MPH when it was pulled over on Pine Tree Drive at 4:09 a.m. That is, of course, under the speed limit.
On top of that, the black Escalades that supposedly served as roadblocks were actually in motion when Justin was pulled over.
This new information is problematic for the Miami Beach Police Department, because it effectively discredits the reasons officers pulled over Justin and Khalil. Although the MBPD can now prove Justin was under the influence of pot and prescription pills, those charges may be invalidated if there was no legal ground for testing him in the first place. (If you’re interested, there is legal precedent for invalidating warrantless “street encounters” with police.)
The “not guilty” plea submitted by Justin’s legal team now makes more sense…
