Justin Bieber has been released from a Florida jail on bail, several hours after Miami Beach police stopped the Canadian pop star under suspicion of drag racing in a yellow Lamborghini.
The 19-year-old was arrested and charged in Miami Beach for DUI, resisting police without violence and driving with an expired license early Thursday morning but not drag racing, a Miami Beach Police Department report said.
"Why did you stop me?" Bieber asked the arresting officer, the report said. Bieber repeatedly used the f-word, his face was flushed and his eyes were bloodshot, the officer wrote.
Bieber was subjected to a sobriety test "which he failed" after being pulled over in a residential area, Miami Beach police spokesperson Robert Hernandez told CTV News Channel.
He was taken to the Miami Beach police station for a breathalyzer test, then transported to the Miami-Dade County jail in Miami for booking.
Hours later, dressed in a dark orange jail uniform, Bieber stood silently as he appeared before a Florida judge by video link. Attorney Roy Black told the judge he'd been hired by Bieber's manager, but he and his partner had been denied access to the singer in jail.
Bieber's bond was set at the "standard" $2,500: $1,000 for resisting arrest, $1,000 for DUI and $500 for his expired license. He was released from jail shortly after 2 p.m., and will now have to go through Miami’s criminal court system.
The singer won't be getting preferential treatment regardless of his celebrity status, Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine told The Associated Press, adding that he was grateful that no one was injured.
Though Bieber's exact blood-alcohol content wasn't immediately released, "during the investigation, Mr. Bieber made statements that he had consumed some alcohol, that he had been smoking marijuana and consumed some prescription medication," Miami Beach Police Chief Raymond Martinez said in a press conference. He said the combination was enough to be considered "impaired."
Martinez said Bieber was "a little belligerent" to officers at first, "using some choice words, questioning why he was being stopped."
Local media reports painted a picture of the events leading up to the arrest. Police told local media that Bieber was driving a rented yellow Lamborghini. The Miami Herald also reported that Bieber was visiting a club on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach on Wednesday night.
A video posted on TMZ.com shows a group of young women being waved away from a yellow Lamborghini by men dressed in black, as a young man climbs in and drives away. Later, a yellow Lamborghini can be seen on the side of a road, lit by the flashing lights of police cruisers behind it.
A police report says an officer noticed two vehicles he believed to be racing, and two SUVs blocking off the road "as if to stop traffic going northbound. This facilitated an open road for the two (drivers) to race."
The vehicles were driving up to speeds of 50 to 60 mph (approximately 80 to 100 km/h) in a 30 mph (approximately 50 km/h) zone, Hernandez said. He said they slowed down to 5 mph (8 km/h) when they spotted a police car.
An officer trying to stop the vehicles pulled over the red Ferrari, but "the vehicle that Mr. Bieber was driving, the yellow Lamborghini, continued north and made a left," Martinez said.
Another officer stopped the Lamborghini a few minutes later. When he approached the driver's side the officer wrote in the report "I immediately smelled an odor of alcohol emanating from the driver's breath and bloodshot eyes." The officer asked him to step out of the vehicle, and he refused.
The driver of the Ferrari was also arrested. Both cars were towed.
An unidentified woman who was riding in Bieber's car was allowed to leave the scene. She is not facing any charges, Hernandez said.
In a message on Twitter, police identified the second driver as rapper Khalil Sharieff, 19, who had posted online photos of Bieber in a yellow Lamborghini and himself behind the wheel of a Ferrari hours before the arrest. Sharieff was also charged with DUI.
The street where Bieber is said to have been racing is a palm-tree lined residential street, with apartment buildings on one side and a high school, a youth centre and a firehouse, The Associated Press reported.
Earlier in the day, Bieber posted photos and videos on the social networking site Instagram showing him playing basketball and skateboarding at a local skate park.
Police are also investigating Bieber's "unauthorized" escort in the Miami area, TMZ reported.
On Monday night, when the singer arrived in Florida, Bieber and his entourage received a two-car escort from the Opa-Locka Police Department. Police told TMZ the use of police vehicles was unauthorized by the chief.
Last week, Bieber's home in Calabasas, California was searched by police after an egg-tossing vandalism case left his neighbour with thousands of dollars of damage.
Lil Za, a rapper whose real name is Xavier Smith, was arrested on suspicion of vandalism and drug possession.
In October, a neighbour complained that the singer was driving recklessly through the area near his California home, but prosecutors refused to press charges.
