Teenage pop superstar Justin Bieber is charged with drink driving a Lamborghini in an illegal drag race, in the latest of a string of controversial incidents.
Bieber was arrested in South Florida early on Thursday morning and has been charged with drink driving and drag racing on a main road.
A Miami police spokesman said Bieber “had been smoking marijuana and he did consume a beer”. His rented yellow Lamborghini was going along at almost double the speed limit before he was arrested.
The 19-year-old singer was also charged with resisting arrest without violence and driving with an expired Georgia driver’s license.
He was racing a friend driving a rented red Ferrari in a road blocked by two SUVs to keep traffic away from the makeshift race track. Bieber’s friend, fellow singer Khalil Sharieff, was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence.
@justinbieber #MUGSHOT pic.twitter.com/ZuYwmdipIy
— Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) January 23, 2014
Florida police said they were investigating the actions of officers who gave Bieber and his entourage an unauthorised escort through traffic after they landed at a local airport.
The drunk driving charge is just the latest controversy to hit the Canadian singer, who shot to fame aged just 15.
Last year he disappointed thousands of UK fans by showing up to gigs late, leaving many of his fans leaving his performances just moments after he started performing to catch trains home. While in the UK he was also involved in a scuffle outside his hotel in London.
In April 2013 he left a message in a guestbook at the Anne Frank Museum, saying he hoped the Holocaust victim would have been a fan. He wrote: “Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.”
#BreakingNews confirming @justinbieber has been arrested for DUI & Drag Racing more info & press release coming.
— Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) January 23, 2014
A month later Bieber was told to pay a bill of several thousand euros for his pet monkey’s stay at a Munich animal shelter, after it was seized by authorities having been brought into Germany without the proper paperwork.
Earlier this month, Bieber’s home was raided by California police after he was accused of pelting a neighbour’s house with eggs and causing damage worth thousands of pounds.
#ARRESTREPORT for @justinbieber pg 3 pic.twitter.com/ucJ6qnLr1T
— Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) January 23, 2014