Los Angeles Police spokesman James Stoughton said that the photographer parked his car across the street and came to get a closer look at the vehicle and started clicking pictures. Twice the officers told him to retreat. Stoughton said that a car struck the photographer as he was walking back to his car.
The unidentified photographer continued taking pictures until he was asked to step back by the patrol officers on duty, as it could be dangerous.
The photographer was hit by an oncoming car and succumbed to his injuries at a hospital. The LAPD who are investigating the accident said that he photographer crossed without looking. Paramedics attempted to resuscitate the victim but he was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital.
The driver of the SUV stopped immediately after hitting the photographer. The police said that he was not at fault and would not be charged.
Police have confirmed that neither drugs nor alcohol were a factor in the accident. Moreover, Bieber was not in the car and at the time of the accident, it was being used by his friends to whom he had lent the vehicle.
Paparazzi have been constantly tailing the 18-year old pop star and a high-speed dangerous chase in July had provoked a city councilman to forecast that such celebrity chases could have tragic results. Photographs of the star mean money and paparazzi go to extreme lengths to try and capture the star on their cameras.
Bieber has issued a statement saying that whilst he was neither present at the scene of the accident nor was he in way involved in it, his thoughts and prayers were with the victim and his family. He hoped that this would lead to laws being framed to safeguard the “lives and safety of celebrities, police celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders, and the photographers themselves.”