Britney Spears' long weekend just got a little bit longer.
On Monday night, shortly after the trouble-plagued pop star returned to her Studio City home for the first time since her brief hospitalization, Spears had yet another breakdown. Or at least, her car did. (View Brit's wild night go down in our photo gallery)
The 26-year-old, accompanied by her latest personal assistant, suffered a flat tire just after 7 p.m. while driving her white Mercedes along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. While her destination was unknown, she had just come from a brief stop at a Studio City drugstore.
Surrounded by her ever-present fleet of paparazzi followers, Spears continued driving her hobbled ride for several miles, albeit without her headlights, at one point passing by a gas station but opting not to pull in.
She eventually came to a stop in the right lane of traffic and, after cops arrived on the scene, abandoned her vehicle in the road and accepted a ride home—not from the officers but from X17 paparazzo Fabricio Mariotto.
Spears' car was subsequently impounded by the city just before 8 p.m. after officers deemed it unsafe to leave in the road, where it had been blocking an entire lane of rush-hour traffic.
The vehicle was carted off by a private company that's contracted with the city and is currently being held at the official police tow yard. Spears will be able to pick it up anytime within 30 days, though if she fails to do so, the car will be placed on the public auction block.
When she does pick up the vehicle—or, more likely, dispatch someone to pick it up for her—Spears will not be subject to any additional fines or citations.
The going rate for Spears to recoup her vehicle is a flat $104 tow fee, plus $32 for every day the Mercedes remains in the yard.
Tow job aside, the lack of luxury transportation didn't stop Spears from continuing on with her evening. Shortly after hitching a ride back to her home with a paparazzo, she and her assistant ventured back out in the PA's Toyota Camry. The two headed straight to the Beverly Hills Four Seasons.
Due to the influx of her accompanying paparazzi pals, Spears was asked to leave the hotel's premises shortly after her arrival at 9:30 p.m.. On the way out, a cameraman kicked a hotel security guard, who in turn called police to the scene. By the time LAPD arrived and took a battery report from the guard, all paparazzi, following the trail of their meal ticket, had fled the scene. Cops now have the unenviable task of being on the lookout for a male with a camera.
Spears was without her usual hotel check-in buddy, paparazzo Adnan Ghalib Monday night, the first time she's been spotted without the cameraman since her release from Cedars-Sinai Saturday morning.
Over the weekend, the inseparable twosome were caught everywhere from Santa Barbara to Palm Desert, though the duo apparently became unjoined at the hip Monday night, when Spears suddenly pulled the plug on her fledgling relationship and returned solo to her home, a source close to the singer told E! News' Ryan Seacrest.
Of course, as always with Spears, it's unknown how long the uncoupling will last, though E! Online has been told the singer fears that the paparazzo may be thinking about peddling a tell-all of his exclusive time with her to the highest-bidding tabloid.