More Bieber jail film may stay under wraps

Justin Bieber's lawyers say a police video of the 19-year-old pop singer urinating into a cup for a drug test is an out-of-bounds invasion of his privacy.

Justin Bieber's wobbly walk during a jailhouse sobriety test isn't the only thing police video captured after his January arrest on driving under the influence and other charges, but it's not clear if the remaining clips will see the light of day.

Bieber's lawyers raised no objections to the roughly 10 hours of video released on Wednesday following public records requests by news organisations.

They have argued to a judge, however, that police video of the 19-year-old pop singer urinating into a cup for a drug test is an out-of-bounds invasion of his privacy.

Miami-Dade County Judge William Altfield plans to review the withheld video privately and have a hearing next week on whether any portions will be released. The arguments over police video have delayed Bieber's trial date, which is now uncertain.

The videos made public on Wednesday were recorded at the Miami Beach Police Department shortly after Bieber and R&B singer Khalil Amir Sharieff were arrested during what officers said was an illegal street drag race in exotic sports cars.

They were not charged with drag racing, however.

In one clip, Bieber - dressed in a dark hoodie with the hood over his head, dark baggy shorts and bright red shoes - wavers as he tries to walk carefully and slowly heel to toe. He stumbles slightly as he turns and appears to have his arms out for balance.

In a second try, he stumbles again, even reaching out to a wall for support and has an animated face-to-face conversation with a police officer in which both point fingers at each other.

There are only brief glimpses of the pop singer's face and no close-ups in the medium-quality video, which also included no time codes to determine how long he underwent the sobriety tests.

Other brief clips show Bieber being walked through various parts of the police station, and one previously released video showing him being patted down by an officer.

None of the videos have sound.

Bieber and Sharieff are both shown sitting on the floor of a holding cell, then getting up one by one, turning around and being handcuffed behind their backs.

Bieber is again wearing his dark hoodie, and in another clip as he is led out of the police station in handcuffs he ducks down low to avoid showing his face.

Sharieff is depicted in other segments, also wearing bright red shoes while he sits quietly in a chair and watches Bieber undergo the sobriety test. At one point the two appear to be talking and Sharieff raises a clenched fist.

Bieber has pleaded not guilty to DUI, resisting arrest and driving with an invalid licence. Breath tests showed that his blood-alcohol content was below the 0.02 level considered intoxicated for underage drivers, but the urine test found the presence of marijuana and the antidepressant Xanax.


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3 min read
Published 27 February 2014 8:45pm
Updated 27 February 2014 8:48pm
Source: AAP


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