Story highlights
Source: Tests indicated Bieber's BAC was .011%, .014%
Both would be below .02% limit for drivers under legal drinking age of 21
Test checks only for alcohol; DUI law also prohibits impairment by controlled substances
Chief: Bieber said he drank, smoked pot, took prescription medication before driving Thursday
Two breath tests estimated pop star Justin Bieber’s blood-alcohol content was below .08% after his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence in Florida, a source close to the investigation said Friday.
The tests indicated contents of .011% and .014%, the source said. Both would be below the general .08% legal limit for drivers and Florida’s .02% limit for drivers under the legal drinking age of 21. Bieber is 19.
It’s not clear how soon after the arrest the tests were given. And an alcohol level by itself wouldn’t necessarily clear a defendant of DUI, as Florida law also says people can be convicted if controlled substances – not just alcohol – impair the driver’s “normal faculties.”
Police said Bieber admitted to drinking, using marijuana and taking prescription pills before his arrest early Thursday in Miami Beach. He also failed a field sobriety test, Miami Beach police said.
Bieber was pulled over after a Miami Beach officer saw him driving a yellow Lamborghini in a race against a red Ferrari in a residential area of Miami Beach, city Police Chief Raymond Martinez said.
Thursday’s incident marks the first time the teen singer has been arrested, although he is the subject of a felony vandalism probe on allegations of egging his California neighbor’s home.
Officers suspended in Bieber escort probe
Bieber’s arrest came three days after he arrived in the Miami area – a visit that also has put the behavior of a separate police department’s officers in the spotlight.
Three Opa-Locka police officers have been suspended in connection with allegations that officers escorted Bieber’s caravan early in the week, the city’s manager said Friday.
The city has been investigating reports that Opa-Locka officers escorted Bieber from the city’s airport to Miami strip clubs Monday.
Opa-Locka Deputy City Manager David Chiverton said the three officers would be suspended with pay, pending an investigation.
Chiverton said he didn’t know how the escort arrangement was initiated.
The arrest
Bieber was pulled over just after 4 a.m. Thursday after a police officer saw Bieber and the other driver speeding at about 55 to 60 mph in a 30 mph zone, said Martinez, the Miami Beach police chief.
The officer stopped Bieber’s car, but the singer was “was not cooperating with the officer’s instructions,” Martinez said.
“At first, he was a little belligerent, using some choice words questioning why he was being stopped and why the officer was even questioning him,” he said.
“What the f*** did I do? Why did you stop me?” Bieber asked the police officer who stopped him, according to the arrest report
He allegedly ignored a police officer’s request to keep his hands on the car while he did “a cursory patdown for weapons,” the report said.
“I ain’t got no f***ing weapons,” the arresting officer quoted Bieber as saying. “Why do you have to search me? What the f*** is this about?”
The arrest report describes Bieber as having a “flushed face, bloodshot eyes, and the odor of alcohol on his breath.”
Two black SUVs blocked the traffic at 26th and Pine Tree Drive, which “facilitated an open road” for the two cars to race on Pine Tree, the report said.
Bieber was booked into jail after failing the field sobriety test, police said. Police said a urine test was taken; results are expected in two to three weeks.
The Ferrari’s driver, identified as 19-year-old Def Jam recording artist Khalil Sharieff, was also arrested on a drunken driving charge, police said.
Bieber was released Thursday from a Miami jail an hour after he made a brief appearance through a video link before a Miami judge, who set a “standard” $2,500 bond that afternoon.
CNN’s Alan Duke and Jason Hanna and CNN en Espanol’s Adriana Hauser contributed to this report.