Officer body camera footage of Justin Timberlake’s 2024 arrest in Sag Harbor, New York was released Friday, after the singer agreed to redactions as part of a settlement of his privacy lawsuit against the local police department.
Timberlake, 45, was pulled over, subjected to a series of field sobriety tests, and ultimately charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor. He later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of driving while impaired, an infraction.
The footage was published online Friday by The Sag Harbor Express, a local outlet that sought its release through a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request filed by its parent company, The Express News Group.
In the video, Timberlake is already out of his BMW sport utility vehicle on the side of a road as an officer administers sobriety tests. “Guys, I’m just following my friends back to my house,” he says, his speech slow and seemingly slurred. “I’m not doing anything. I’m just following my friends back to my house.”
Officers instruct him to walk a straight line using nine heel-to-toe steps. He struggles to follow directions, stepping off the line. “Sorry, I’m a little nervous,” he says, before taking more steps than requested. An officer is seen taking notes.
Timberlake also appears to have difficulty with another test requiring him to lift one foot six inches off the ground and count aloud. “Sorry, my heart is racing,” he says. “These are like, really hard tests.” A short time later, he is placed in handcuffs and arrested.
On March 2, Timberlake filed a petition seeking to block release of the footage, citing privacy concerns. A judge then granted a temporary restraining order.
“The footage at issue depicts petitioner in an acutely vulnerable state during a roadside encounter with law enforcement, capturing intimate details of petitioner’s physical appearance, demeanor, speech, and conduct during field sobriety testing, the subsequent arrest, and petitioner’s confinement following arrest over the next several hours,” the filing obtained by Rolling Stone said. “Public dissemination of this footage would cause severe and irreparable harm to petitioner’s personal and professional reputation.”
The judge’s order blocking release was lifted Friday after Timberlake and Sag Harbor officials reached an agreement on redactions. In the settlement filed with the court, Timberlake’s lawyers said the edited footage “does not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
The video largely aligns with what law enforcement officials described after the arrest, which occurred about 12:37 a.m. on June 18, 2024. Officers said he ran a stop sign at Madison Street and Jermain Avenue in Sag Harbor and failed to keep to the right side of the road for several blocks.
“His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odor of alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing based on sworn statements from Sag Harbor Police Officer Michael D. Arkinson.
“From the beginning of this matter, after Timberlake’s arrest, the Village has attempted to comply with the mandates of the Freedom of Information Law,” Vincent Toomey, an attorney for the Village of Sag Harbor, said in a statement Friday. “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. We are pleased that this matter has now been resolved and the Village will be able to comply with its statutory obligation to release the material that is subject to disclosure under FOIL.”
