Justin Bieber Facing Assault Charges in Toronto
Justin Bieber arrived in Toronto on Wednesday to face a charge in connection to an alleged assault involving a limo driver in December. The 19-year-old singer, who was most recently spotted this weekend in Panama, turned himself in at the 52 Division police station where he was charged and then released of his own recognizance.
This will be Bieber's second arrest in a week, but his first on Canadian soil. It was an overall busy day for Bieber; on Wednesday afternoon, his lawyer entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Bieber for the charges he faces in Miami.
Sources told TMZ that Bieber was charged with criminal assault stemming from a December incident in Toronto involving Bieber and his entourage.
According to the CBC, details of that incident aren't entirely clear:
Toronto police said the charges stem from an altercation between a limo driver and a passenger in the early morning hours of Monday, Dec. 30, after a group of six people was picked up outside a nightclub in the area of Peter Street and Adelaide Street West.
Police said one of the passengers hit the limo driver in the head several times during the altercation. The driver stopped and called police, but the passenger left the scene before police arrived.
As Bieber entered the police station Wednesday evening for processing, he was swarmed by reporters and teenage fans screaming, "I love you!!!" He even smiled through the glass once he was inside the station. He left the building through a back door two hours after entering.
Howard Weitzman, Bieber's California-based lawyer, said he expects the case will be "treated as a low-level offense and that his client is innocent." Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, asked fans to be nice and fight any shred of common sense:
i ask people to be kind and hope for the best in people. not assume the worst. thanks
— Scooter Braun (@scooterbraun) January 29, 2014
You're welcome, Scooter.
The icing on the Toronto cake is that immediately before entering the police station, Bieber—always the professional, always hoping for the best in people—uploaded this video to Instagram, asking fans to watch his new video on Vevo.