Police in Los Angeles are investigating the death of a paparazzi photographer who was hit by a car while trying to take pictures of a white Ferrari owned by pop star Justin Bieber. TODAY's Willie Geist reports.
By Daniel Strieff, NBC News
A paparazzo was struck by a car and killed after taking photos of a white Ferrari believed to belong to pop star Justin Bieber on a busy Los Angeles street, police told NBC News on Wednesday.
Madeline Nightingale, the watch commander of the Los Angeles Police Department?s West Traffic Bureau, said the photographer was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center shortly after Tuesday night's collision.
Bieber's vehicle was not involved in the crash, officials said.
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Justin Bieber was not in the car at the time of Tuesday's incident, police said.
The deceased, a white male in his late 20s, was not named pending notification of next of kin, she said.
?From what we understand, the car was owned by Justin Bieber, but he was not in the vehicle at the time,? Nightingale said.
A call by The Associated Press to a spokesperson for the singer was not immediately returned. Bieber's Twitter feed made no mention of the incident early Wednesday.
Police would offer no information on the Ferrari?s driver except to say the individual was believed to be a friend of the 18-year-old Canadian singer.
The incident occurred about 5:45 p.m. local time (8:45 p.m. ET) Tuesday after a California Highway Patrol officer flagged the Ferrari for speeding on the northbound 405 Freeway, Nightingale said. The car then exited at Sepulveda Boulevard and Getty Center Drive, she said.
During the traffic stop, the photographer crossed the busy Sepulveda thoroughfare, which runs?parallel?to the 405, and attempted to shoot photos of the vehicle?s occupants from a perch on the narrow divider, Nightingale said.
The Highway Patrol officer on the scene repeatedly warned the man that his position was dangerous, she said.
The man was then struck by a car traveling southbound on Sepulevda, Nightingale said.
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No charges were expected to be filed against the motorist, who stopped her car to attempt to administer assistance, Nightingale told NBC News. The driver was a woman with two young children in the vehicle, Nightingale said.
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The scene was still behind held at around 12:30 a.m. local time Wednesday (3:30 a.m. ET), she said. The investigation had been handed over from the West Traffic Bureau to the LAPD?s Multi-Disciplinary Collision Investigation Team, she said.
?We are going methodically to take our time to get everything we need to get the investigation resolved,? Nightingale added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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