Justin Timberlake’s DUI arrest in 2024 has led the pop superstar back to court on Long Island as he seeks to block the release of police video of his arrest in June 2024 while he was visiting The Hamptons, citing privacy concerns, as multiple news outlets are demanding the footage.
The pop superstar initially pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge when arraigned, but in September 2024, Timberlake admitted to driving under the influence of alcohol the night he was pulled over and arrested just after midnight. Officers at the scene reported that he ran a stop sign in the village center and then veered out of his lane; when he got out of his BMW, he smelled of alcohol.
A Suffolk County judge accepted Timberlake’s guilty plea as part of a deal that lessened his punishment and allowed the pop star to avoid further jail time. As part of his plea deal, the singer agreed to 25 to 40 hours of community service and to pay a fine.
Now, 20 months after his arrest, the singer is seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent the town of Sag Harbor from releasing the footage. His attorneys met with a judge on Monday, arguing that releasing the unedited footage would be an invasion of his privacy, with his attorneys asking on Monday for a block on the release of the video or that the court conduct a private review of it to ensure material not subject to disclosure under New York’s Freedom of Information Law wouldn’t be included in what would be released. The meeting with the town’s lawyer and the singer’s attorneys is in response to public records requests seeking the video submitted by multiple news outlets that cover the singer and his career.
The video contains material that is personal and identifiable and which Timberlake’s attorneys argue is irrelevant to “any law enforcement action of public concern,” the legal filing submitted to the Suffolk County Supreme Court states. According to a letter sent on Sunday to Sag Harbor’s police chief by Timberlake’s attorney, who viewed the video back in the summer of 2024, the footage continues for approximately eight hours after the singer’s arrest and “encroaches on areas of [Timberlake’s] life and emotional state that have no relevance at all to [Timberlake’s] arrest.”
The lengthy video also includes imagery of bystanders who retain their right to privacy, his attorneys argue.
In a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter, Sag Harbor’s attorney Vincent Toomey said that at a conference held in the Suffolk County Supreme Court on Monday, Justice Joseph Farneti took no formal action on the matter. Instead, the judge opted to allow the parties to confer on a potential resolution of the matter and for the village to respond to the lawsuit.
Timberlake’s original Driving While Intoxicated misdemeanor carried a maximum of one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. In court in September, the singer told the judge, “I should’ve had better judgment. I understand the seriousness of this.”
