Justin Bieber has pleaded guilty to assault and careless driving, but will not go to jail over a collision with paparazzi in the Canadian countryside last year.
According to AFP, Justin Bieber was ordered Thursday to pay a Can$750 (US$600) fine for careless driving.
Fortunately for Bieber, 21, the more serious charge of dangerous driving was withdrawn. As for the assault charge, the pop star received an absolute discharge for the assault, which means he was found guilty but no conviction will show up on his record.
The charges came as a result of a crash that occurred in September near his hometown of Stratford, Ontario. Justin was in town with then girlfriend, Selena Gomez, visiting family.
Justin Bieber pleads guilty to assault and careless driving: http://t.co/UM0UBgrzHF pic.twitter.com/XM54LMhZlc
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) June 4, 2015
Police alleged that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez had been taking turns driving the ATV while the other sat on the back. When it was Bieber’s turn, he allegedly rammed his All-Terrain Vehicle into a minivan driven by a photographer and then got into a “physical altercation” with the driver.
At the time, Justin Bieber tweeted his disgust at the intrusive presence of the paparazzi.
Justin Bieber has been convicted in Canada of careless driving and assault http://t.co/YNPpL1PaCB pic.twitter.com/qNdxwywmdE
— ITV News (@itvnews) June 4, 2015
“There should be laws against what I just experienced. We should have learned from the death of Princess Diana,” adding, “I don’t have a problem with Paparazzi but when they act recklessly they put us all in danger.”
According to Justin Bieber’s lawyer, Brian Greenspan, the couple were on a quiet retreat in Stratford “that was unfortunately disrupted by the unwelcome presence of paparazzi.”