Raef-Ramirez/AKM-GSIJustin Bieber will not face charges for his altercation with a photographer earlier this year, according to court documents.
On May 27, Bieber and his then-and-possibly-still-girlfriend Selena Gomez were leaving the movie theater at the Commons at Calabasas shopping center. As usual with this pair, several paparazzi were present, photographing them walking to their van, and then driving away—or trying to. Apparently, Bieber thought that the paps were blocking their way out, because, according to court documents, he exited the van and confronted one of them.
What happened next? Well, photographer Jose Hernandez-Duran later told Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies that Bieber kicked him in the gut and punched him in the face—a claim that deputies investigated. In a charge evaluation worksheet filed on Oct. 22, the L.A. County District Attorney's Office detailed the many ways in which they were unable to corroborate that accusation.
When Fire Department personnel examined him, according to the worksheet, they found "no apparent injury and no signs of trauma or bruising" on either his face or his abdomen. While a doctor at the West Hills Hospital did report "possible minor swelling" on his cheek and "some redness" on his abdomen, deputies at the scene and the hospital reported seeing no injuries—including on the videotape of deputies' interview with Hernandez-Duran.
The report also notes that while one witness, another photographer, did corroborate Hernandez-Duran's assertion that the award-winning singer hit him, "a number of other percipient witnesses do not corroborate victim's statement." Some witnesses did report seeing Bieber swing at Hernandez-Duran's camera, but none of these witnesses saw Bieber hit or kick Hernandez-Duran himself.
"There is no additional corroborative evident for victim's statement but there is contradictory evidence," the document concludes. "There is insufficient evident for proof beyond a reasonable doubt."