Justin Timberlake pleads not guilty to drunken driving near New York

The American singer had “admitted the facts” during his arrest in June, according to the services of the prosecutor of Suffolk County, on the island of Long Island.

American pop superstar Justin Timberlake assured a court on Friday August 2 that he was not intoxicated when he was arrested one night in June, driving a BMW in an ultra-upscale area east of New York, according to local media.

On tour in Antwerp, Belgium, the 43-year-old singer, producer and actor ended up appearing by videoconference – after a missed appointment last Friday – before a municipal court 160 km east of the megacity, on the large island of Long Island. The latter is located in the Hamptons region, which is home to sumptuous residences of the very wealthy.

Justin Timberlake pleaded “not guilty” before Judge Carl Irace of the village of Sag Harbor, reported the court press, which attended the hearing. His attorney Edward Burke said his client had been stripped of his New York state driver’s license while his case was being tried.

On July 26, Mr. Burke pleaded alone before the court, accusing “the police of having made a number of very significant errors” during the artist’s arrest on the night of June 17-18.Justin was not drunk and should not have been arrested”he had claimed. Justin Timberlake had, however, “acknowledged the facts” that evening, the local county prosecutor’s office told AFP in June.

He was arrested while driving a BMW “in a drunken state” – THE “bloodshot eyes, his breath smelling of alcohol” – after not having stopped at an intersection and not having been able to “maintain” his vehicle on the “Good” trajectory, according to the police.

A former member of the boy band NSYNC in the late 1990s, the “Prince of Pop” embarked on a solo career as a singer, songwriter, producer and actor that propelled him to the rank of global icon. He has won ten Grammy Awards and four Emmys, the Academy Awards of music and television.