It’s been a crazy week in Bieberville.
Justin Bieber's bodyguard was arrested in Sandy Springs on Tuesday following an incident involving a photographer, a day after a silly prank involving a fake Bieber "protest" in Buckhead made an international superstar out of Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell.
Meanwhile, jailhouse video showing Bieber in the Miami clink was expected to be released Wednesday. The pop star was arrested in Miami in January following a suspected street racing incident.
Back in Atlanta, Bieber popped up … where else? The zoo.
Sandy Springs Police Capt. Steve Rose said authorities initially arrested both bodyguard Hugo Hesny, 32, and a driver after a Tuesday scuffle with a photographer. Authorities were called to the Sandy Springs Funhouse, which Bieber had evidently rented out for his entourage, after a photographer said his camera was taken.
“Officers determined that (Hesny) warned the photographer that he was too close,” Rose said. “A confrontation ensued and the photographer attempted to leave the location, but at some point, the security guard caught up and took the camera, placed it in the Escalade and instructed the driver … to return to Bieber’s house.”
Officers stopped the Escalade as it was pulling up to the home Bieber is renting. (It belongs to producer Dallas Austin, who set the record straight lest anyone think he'd handed over the keys permanently. "Oh yeah it's not my old Atlanta spaceship home, I still live there," he posted in a message on his Facebook page. "Justin Bieber is a house guest. Relax!")
Both the guard and the Escalade driver were initially charged, but the driver was later cleared. Hesny appeared in Fulton County Magistrate Court with his lawyer, Andrew Schwartz, for a first appearance hearing on Wednesday. Judge Jessy Lall granted him $15,000 bond and ordered him to appear in Superior Court on March 12.
Bieber was not involved in the incident, police said.
On Monday, jokesters dressed as protesters with the fictitious “Buckhead Neighborhood Coalition” took to a staged picket line and managed to drag Massell, head of the real Buckhead Coalition, into news coverage from around the world. Bieber escaped the media circus by heading to Zoo Atlanta, which posted a nice picture on its Facebook page.
“I love GA,” Bieber, who’s been in Atlanta for several weeks now working on a new recording project, posted on his Twitter feed. “Me, my team, and my Beliebers we are focused on the music. That is what matters. Much love to everybody.”
He turns 20 on Saturday.
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