Police charge Justin Bieber with assault
TORONTO: Troubled heartthrob pop star Justin Bieber was charged Wednesday with assaulting a limousine driver, Canadian police said, after the 19-year-old turned himself in with a crowd of female fans screaming their support.
The charges are the latest run-in with the law for the teen singer after his arrest in Miami Beach on January 23 for drag racing and impaired driving, and after his Los Angeles mansion was searched because he allegedly hurled eggs at a neighbor´s house.
Bieber will appear in court on March 10, Toronto police said in a statement, just over two hours after he sparked scenes of chaos as he arrived to turn himself in a black all-terrain vehicle.
Social media lit up as word spread that Bieber had surrendered and adolescent fans, most of them female, thronged the police station.
"On Wednesday, January 29, 2014, Justin Bieber, 19, of Calabasas, California, surrendered to police at 52 Division," the Toronto police statement said, adding the troubled star will go before court at Toronto´s Old City Hall.
Bieber is charged with hitting a limousine driver "several times" over the back of the head. The car had picked him and five others up from a nightclub in the city in the early hours of December 30.Earlier, before going to the club, Bieber had been to a hockey game.
"While driving the group to a hotel, an altercation occurred between one of the passengers and the driver of the limousine," the statement said.
"In the course of the altercation, a man struck the limousine driver on the back of the head several times."
The driver stopped the limousine, exited the vehicle and called police. "The man who struck him left the scene before police arrived."
Earlier, wearing a baseball cap turned backwards and a black hooded winter coat, the singer entered the station in Toronto, escorted by officers who rushed him through a large crowd of screaming fans and journalists.
"Move back, don´t push! Don´t push!" a police officer barked as girls shrieked at the sight of Bieber´s large black limousine. CTV television said the pop star pulled up around 7:30 pm (0030 GMT Thursday).Fans rushed in holding up smartphones hoping to get a picture of the clean-cut, baby-faced young star turned tattooed, barely adult bad boy.
A girl screamed "I love you, Justin, I love you!" as dozens of cameras flashed to light up the night.
