{"id":25119,"date":"2014-09-09T01:03:29","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T17:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=25119"},"modified":"2014-09-09T01:03:29","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T17:03:29","slug":"assault-charge-against-bieber-withdrawn-in-toronto-limo-driver-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/09\/09\/assault-charge-against-bieber-withdrawn-in-toronto-limo-driver-incident\/","title":{"rendered":"Assault charge against Bieber withdrawn in Toronto limo driver incident"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Justin<\/a>
Justin Bieber’s January 2014 mugshot, after being detained by police in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo from Miami Beach Police Department \/ Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO — An assault charge has been withdrawn against Canadian pop star Justin Bieber in connection with an incident involving a Toronto limousine driver.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Monday the charge was withdrawn because there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.<\/p>\n

It stemmed from an early morning incident on Dec. 30, when Bieber and five other people were picked up by a limousine at a Toronto nightclub.<\/p>\n

Bieber was charged with one count of assault after police alleged one of the passengers hit the limousine driver during an altercation.<\/p>\n

“The Crown would be required to prove that an intentional application of force occurred, as well as who applied that force,” prosecutor David Mitchell told the court.<\/p>\n

“There were a number of people in the vehicle seated behind the driver at the time of the incident, and the Crown is not in a position to establish the identification of the person who came into contact with the complainant beyond a reasonable doubt based on the evidence available.”<\/p>\n

The singer’s lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said his client is “relieved” to be cleared.<\/p>\n

He said police did their job in investigating the complaint and the Crown made the right decision based on the resulting evidence.<\/p>\n

“This is an example of the system working effectively and properly.”<\/p>\n

It is one of a series of legal troubles faced by the 20-year-old singer.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 29, Bieber was arrested and charged with dangerous driving and assault following a collision between a minivan and an ATV in a rural area northeast of Bieber’s hometown of Stratford, Ont.<\/p>\n

The driver of the ATV and an occupant of the minivan “engaged in a physical altercation,” according to police.<\/p>\n

A hearing in that case has been scheduled for Sept. 29.<\/p>\n

Greenspan would not discuss the Stratford charges.<\/p>\n

The singer has also had run-ins with the law in the United States.<\/p>\n

Bieber was arrested in Florida in January after what police alleged was an illegal street race involving the pop star and his friend.<\/p>\n

In August, Bieber pleaded guilty to charges of careless driving and resisting arrest in that case and in a plea bargain was sentenced to an anger management course, a $500 fine and a $50,000 charitable contribution.<\/p>\n

In July, Bieber pleaded no contest to a misdemeanour vandalism charge and was ordered to pay nearly $81,000 in damages and to serve two years probation following an egg-tossing incident which caused damage to a neighbour’s home in Calabasas, Calif.<\/p>\n

The singer was also ordered to complete five days of community labour and a 12-week anger-management program and to stay away from the victim and his family for two years. Bieber has since moved from Calabasas into a Beverly Hills condo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO — An assault charge has been withdrawn against Canadian pop star Justin Bieber in connection with an incident involving …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-breaking","category-hollywood","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}