Justin Bieber’s 911 call from last week’s high-speed chase has been released and in it the singer blames the incident on over-aggressive paparazzi.
After police pulled over Bieber and cited him for driving more than 65 mph, the paparazzi continued to pursue the 18-year-old pop star. That’s when he decided to call 911 himself and get some additional back up.
In an effort to conceal his identity, Bieber tells the operator that his name is Justin Johnson.
Last week, Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine accused Bieber of endangering others while trying to speed away, but Bieber claims it’s the paparazzi that were recklessly swerving in and out of traffic to get their shot.
“I was driving fast so that I could try to get away from them and I got pulled over myself,” he says. “When I explained to the police officers, they were very being, like, not nice about it. They were just like, ‘You waive your rights to privacy when you’re a celebrity.’ But that makes absolutely no sense when [the paparazzi are] the ones being dangerous.”
The call goes on for nearly 16 minutes and Bieber is clearly frustrated when he is transferred to another operator and has to explain the situation all over again.
He also complains that the police officer pulled him over in plain sight of the paparazzi and made no effort to hold them back.
“He let all the paparazzi just around my vehicle while he was doing the whole citation,” Bieber explains.
A patrol car later met up with Bieber in downtown Los Angeles and he filed an official complaint against the photographers.
Listen to the entirety of Bieber’s 911 call.
-Sarah Carroll, 97.1 AMP Radio/Los Angeles
