Justin Timberlake struggled to perform field sobriety tests requiring him to walk a straight line and stand on one leg after the pop star was pulled over in New York’s Hamptons in 2024 by police officers who suspected him of driving drunk, according to video footage released on Friday.
Timberlake tells officers at one point, “these are like really hard tests.”
The footage, which runs roughly eight hours, includes Timberlake’s initial stop after Sag Harbor police said he ran a stop sign in the village center, veered out of his lane and got out of his BMW smelling of alcohol that June.
The NSYNC singer turned solo artist and actor tells officers he had consumed one martini and had been following friends home in the former whaling village, which is among the affluent beach towns of the Hamptons, about 100 miles (160km) east of New York City.
When an officer asks why he is in town, Timberlake says: “I’m on a world tour.”
“Doing what?” the officer asks.
“Hard to explain,” Timberlake says.
After stammering a bit, he says: “World tour. I’m Justin Timberlake.”
The officer eventually responds: “You are Justin Timberlake? Do you have a license with you?”
Timberlake, who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of impaired driving, is asked by officers to walk heel-to-toe in a straight line on the road and lift one leg. At times he seems flustered listening to the instructions. He apologizes to officers and tells them his heart is racing.
“I’m a little nervous,” Timberlake says at one point.
In the back seat of the police car, he asks: “Why are you arresting me?”
A woman who had been out with her husband and Timberlake that night came to the scene at one point and unsuccessfully asked if she could give the Grammy-winning entertainer his cellphone. When she realized he was being taken into custody, she was heard saying: “You’re arresting Justin Timberlake right now?”
Invoking an NSYNC hit and one of his signature solo efforts, she later said: “Can you guys please just do me a favor ‘cause you lovedBye Bye Bye or Sexyback? Do me one favor!”
Officers allowed her a moment with Timberlake before bringing him to the police station and informing he would be held overnight.
“I’m going to be here all night?” he says on video. “You guys are wild, man.”
He asks the officer to keep the light on in the cell as they lock the door.
The release by Sag Harbor police comes after the village and Timberlake’s lawyers agreed to disclose a redacted version of the footage. The Associated Press was among several media outlets that filed a records request seeking the release of the video.
Timberlake’s lawyers had sued to block the release of the video, arguing it would “devastate” Timberlake’s privacy by revealing “intimate, highly personal, and sensitive details”. They also said it would cause “severe and irreparable harm” to his reputation by subjecting him to “public ridicule and harassment”.
But in a joint filing with the village on Friday, Timberlake’s lawyers acknowledged the video “does not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy under” the state’s public information law and agreed to its release.
Timberlake’s lawyers and representatives didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Friday.
Sag Harbor officials, in a statement provided by the village’s lawyer, Vincent Toomey, said they are pleased the matter was resolved and they were able to comply with state public records law.
“From the beginning of this matter, after Mr Timberlake’s arrest, the village has attempted to comply with the mandates of the freedom of information law,” the statement reads. “As would be true in any case involving records or video footage from our police department, such material is reviewed and redacted to address public and officer safety concerns as well as personal privacy considerations.”
Timberlake pleaded guilty to impaired driving in September 2024, about three months after the arrest.
The Tennessee native agreed to give a public safety announcement against the perils of drunken driving as part of the plea deal that knocked down his initial misdemeanor charge to a noncriminal traffic violation.
He was also sentenced to a $500 fine, 25 hours of community service and a 90-day suspension of his license.
Guardian staff contributed reporting
