Bieber charges dropped in limo driver assault case–lawyer

TORONTO — Prosecutors dropped charges Monday against pop star Justin Bieber for an alleged assault of a limousine driver in late 2013, his lawyer said.

The charge was withdrawn at a preliminary hearing “at the request of the crown,” said lawyer Brian Greenspan.

“We welcome the decision of the office of the crown attorney to withdraw the charge, having reached the conclusion that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction,” he said.

A Toronto native, Bieber has had numerous run-ins with the authorities in recent months.

Monday’s case involved an incident December 29 in which Bieber and a group of friends allegedly quarrelled with a limo driver on their way to their hotel from a discotheque at 3:00 a.m.

The driver complained he was hit in the back of the head several times during the altercation.

Toronto police summoned Bieber for questioning in that incident at the end of January a few days after he was arrested in Florida for dangerous driving in a drag-racing incident.

He pleaded guilty to that charge in Miami and agreed to take a driver safety course to avoid a stiffer sentence.

He is still not out of the legal hot water in Canada, however.

He has been summoned to a September 29 Ontario provincial court hearing on dangerous driving and assault charges that were brought after his All-Terrain Vehicle collided with a minivan in the Canadian countryside.

“After colliding, the driver of the ATV and an occupant of the minivan engaged in a physical altercation,” an Ontario police official said at the time.