Pop star Justin Bieber is facing driving under the influence and other charges after authorities said he raced through a Miami Beach neighborhood in a rented Lamborghini, cursed at cops as he resisted arrest and admitted to consuming drugs and alcohol.
Authorities told NBC 6 Bieber's blood alcohol level was under the state's legal limit of .08 after a breathalyzer test, but the singer was unable to pass field sobriety tests at the scene. Results from a urine test are still pending.
Bieber wore an orange prison outfit for his first appearance in bond court Thursday afternoon. He appeared remotely via video from jail before Judge Joseph P. Farina, who ordered him held on $2,500 bond. He has been charged with DUI, resisting arrest and driving with a suspended license.
He posted bond and was released about an hour after his court appearance. As Bieber left the the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, he got on top of an SUV and waved to the crowd.
His motorcade drove around Miami-Dade for two hours before arriving at the Icon Brickell tower in Miami. On Thursday night fans were gathered outside the Orchid House in Miami Beach, hoping to catch a glimpse of Bieber there.
The incident began just after 4 a.m. in the area of Pine Tree Drive and West 26th Street, Miami Beach Police spokesman Sgt. Bobby Hernandez said. After his arrest, the pop star admitted to consuming alcohol and prescription medications and smoking marijuana, Miami Beach Police Chief Raymond Martinez said.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
The 19-year-old singer, who was in a rented yellow Lamborghini, was pulled over in the area along with a red Ferrari, which was also speeding, police said.
Bieber's car was being trailed by multiple SUVs when officers gave chase, police sources told NBC 6 South Florida. Two of the cars were apparently being used to block the area off, police said.
He was driving north on Pine Tree Drive at such a high rate of speed it took officers a significant distance to catch him, police said. The officer who made the arrest said the cars were going approximately 55 to 60 mph in a 30 mph zone, Martinez said.
An officer "smelled a strong odor of alcohol" coming from Bieber's car, Martinez said. "The driver had slow deliberate movements and a stupor look on his face," an arrest report said.
Martinez said Bieber was "a little belligerent" with officers at the scene, questioning why he was stopped. He got out of the car but wouldn't follow the officer's instructions, Martinez said.
"Why the f--- are you doing this?" Bieber told the officer, according to the report. "What the f--- did I do, why did you stop me?"
Bieber was asked to put his hands on his car but he continued to take them off, the report said.
"I ain't got no f---ing weapons, why do you have to search me," Bieber told the officer, according to the report.
According to the report, the officer told Bieber if he continued to take his hands off the car, he would be arrested. When Bieber turned around to face the officer, he was taken into custody, the report said.
Bieber failed a sobriety test at the scene, Hernandez said. The other driver, identified by Miami Beach Police as rapper Crazy Khalil – real name Khalil Amir Sharieff – was also arrested and charged with DUI. He was ordered held on $1,000 bond and later released.
No one was injured in the incident.
Video posted to Instagram allegedly showed Bieber's car being pulled over, but police haven't confirmed the video.
Martinez said Bieber was cooperative at the police station. The report said he had a flushed face, bloodshot eyes and an odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath at the holding facility. Authorities later released a mug shot showing the teen smiling (photo below).
He told officers he had been recording music at a studio, the report said.
NBC 6 has learned Bieber was at Miami Beach nightclubs Set and Miami Beach before his DUI arrest. Witnesses at Set told NBC 6 Bieber arrived at 2 a.m. and was seen dancing on tables.
Bieber's second court date is scheduled for Monday, online Miami-Dade court records said.
Bieber has been spotted in different places around Miami in the past few days, including a Miami Beach skate shop, a photo posted on Instagram shows.
The Opa-locka Police Department is also investigating an unauthorized escort of Bieber, a police spokesman said Wednesday.
The arrest is the latest brush with the law for the Canadian 19-year-old pop star, who catapulted to fame in the late 2000s after a talent manager saw a video of him on YouTube.
A neighbor in Bieber's Los Angeles neighborhood recently accused the singer of causing thousands of dollars of damage by throwing eggs at his home, leading detectives to raid Bieber’s mansion in search of evidence. One person at the house was arrested on suspicion of drug possession.
Neighbors have also called the cops in the last year with complaints that that Bieber drives recklessly around the neighborhood and plays loud music at parties that last into the early morning.
In July, officials at the U.S.-Canada border seized marijuana and drug paraphernalia from one of the the singer’s tour buses. Bieber was not on that bus at the time.
The Grammy-nominated artist has also made headlines recently with comments that he plans to leave the music business. He riled his fan base of "Beliebers" with a late December tweet claiming he was "officially retiring." A source told E! News at the time, "of course it's not true."
