No Charges for Reese Chasers

Members of the paparazzi who allegedly chased Reese Witherspoon from her gym to her home in April did nothing illegal to the blonde, according to prosecutors.

The saga began when the actress stopped by her Brentwood gym to work up a sweat with her trainer last spring and subsequently attracted the attention of a crowd of paparazzi.

When she left the confines of the facility, she found herself surrounded by photographers whom she claimed surrounded her car with their own vehicles, tried to force her off the road and eventually blocked her from entering the gated community where she lives with husband Ryan Phillippe and their two children, Ava and Deacon.

The Legally Blonde thesp was finally rescued by her own security detail, who chased off the swarms of shutterbugs.

Though Witherspoon filed a police report claiming false imprisonment by the band of bloodthirsty photogs, prosecutors determined that there was insufficient evidence to back up her version of events.

"In this specific instance, we couldn't prove any criminal behavior by the paparazzi," William C. Hodgman, head of the Los Angeles district attorney's Target Crimes Unit, told the Los Angeles Times.

Hodgman said that while his unit agreed with LAPD detectives that Witherspoon was undoubtedly terrified by aggressive tactics used by the paparazzi, there was no proof that the photogs detained the actress in any way, nor that they were guilty of any other crime.

Not that they're calling the Sweet Home Alabama star a liar.

"This doesn't mean something didn't occur. I have no doubt Ms. Witherspoon was besieged by the paparazzi that day. But through witnesses and videotapes, we weren't able to corroborate the incident Ms. Witherspoon described," Detective Jeff Dunn, head of the Los Angeles Police Department's Threat Management Unit, told the Los Angeles Times.

For their part, photographers who were on the scene that day told police they approached Witherspoon to let her know that one of their colleagues had scraped her car with his rental car--an incident which was helpfully videotaped by an onlooker.

The paparazzo who hit Witherspoon's car also reported the incident to the gym, police said. They declined to identify him, but said he was staying in the country as a tourist on a French passport. They said they did not know if he was affiliated with any photo agencies.

After reviewing videotape shot both in Witherspoon's gym parking lot and at the gates to her home, officials ultimately decided that the actress was merely paying the high price of fame--which apparently includes accepting that even the most mundane events of her day-to-day life will be recorded for the masses.

It's just the latest from the front in the ongoing battle being waged between Hollywood's elite and the people that go to great lengths to photograph them.

Last weekend, a paparazzo trying to snap a pic of Britney Spears at her Malibu baby shower became a target himself after he was shot in the leg with a plastic pellet fired by an unknown assailant.

Police are investigating the incident, which left photog Brad Diaz with a minor wound.

In May, an overly zealous photographer was arrested after he allegedly rammed Lindsay Lohan's car with his minivan, leaving the Mean Girls star with cuts and bruises.

Following the car smash, officials announced they were launching a probe into the tactics used by paparazzi on the quest to score the money shot.

"There is a very real concern that this type of behavior may constitute a danger to the victimized celebrity and others," Hodgman told the Los Angeles Times in June.

The paparazzi may have won this round against Witherspoon; however, the fight's far from over. Prosecutors will soon be deciding whether or not to file charges in Lohan's incident after police turned the case over to the D.A.'s office on Tuesday