March 28, 2012

Man Who Was Arrested for Filming Police with Phone Settles for $170,000

After being arrested on October 1, 2007 for using his cell phone to film officers making an arrest, Boston lawyer Simon Glik sued the city for violating his civil rights.

Late last year the court denied a motion to have the case dismissed, and just yesterday it was announced that the City of Boston had come to a settlement with Glik, agreeing to pay him $170,000 for damages and legal fees.

The decision last year and the settlement yesterday both reaffirm that the First Amendment protects the right to photograph and film police officers carrying out their duties in a public place.

March 16, 2012

Russell Brand Arrested

Russell Brand is a wanted man no more: He turned himself into New Orleans police today to face charges that he grabbed a paparazzo's iPhone and threw it through a window, reports the Times-Picayune.

The misdemeanor warrant for simple criminal damage to property was issued last night, TMZ reports. Brand has offered to pay for the nearby law firm's broken window, but no word on whether he's offered similar restitution for the iPhone. Brand has been in New Orleans filming a movie.

The confrontation went down Monday night, and the photographer involved named Brand in a police report citing "criminal damages." The pap was filming Brand with his iPhone at the time, and yesterday

Brand tweeted a cheeky defense: "Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone use an iphone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory."

March 15, 2012

Russell Brand Arrest Warrant Issued for Throwing Paparazzo's iPhone

Police in New Orleans issued an arrest warrant for Russell Brand on Wednesday night following his run-in with a member of the paparazzi earlier this week, TMZ reported.

Brand was named in a police report Monday night after allegedly grabbing a photographer's cell phone out of his hand and hurling it through the window of a law firm.

The paparazzo, Timothy Jackson, filed a police report immediately after the incident, citing "criminal damages."

According to Jackson, he had been out with several fellow photographers when he started taking pictures of the 36-year-old British comedian and actor with his iPhone.

Brand allegedly "flipped out," snatched the cell phone and threw it at a building, breaking a window in the process.

Earlier Wednesday, Brand tweeted about the incident to his more than four million followers, writing, "Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone use an iphone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory."

Brand, who split from his pop singer wife Katy Perry late last year, is currently filming a movie in New Orleans.

His reps have contacted the law firm and offered to pay for the broken window.

In 2010, Brand was arrested on suspected battery charges after he allegedly attacked a paparazzo at Los Angeles International Airport. He and his lawyers came to an undisclosed agreement with the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office and he escaped punishment.

March 7, 2012

Paparazzi Confuse Debbie Harry With Lindsay Lohan

Several paparazzi might have mixed up Debbie Harry and Lindsay Lohan. On Sunday, March 4, a number of photographers swarmed the former Blondie frontwoman when she left the Mercer Hotel in New York morning after mistaking her for the "Mean Girls" actress, it has been reported.

Splash photographers were among those waiting for Lohan's exit from the hotel that day. To E! News, they claimed to know right from the start that it was the 66-year-old rocker, but noted that other photogs took a few frames before coming to realization. They did admit, "Debbie bore a striking resemblance, albeit older, to the young starlet."

When exiting Mercer, 66-year-old Harry rocked platinum blond bangs and wore aviator sunglasses and black hooded sweatshirt. Her outfits were similar to those worn by 25-year-old Lohan when she was spotted two days earlier. The younger celeb was staying at the hotel for her "Saturday Night Live" hosting gig.

This was not the first time Lohan was mistaken for other people though. Back in 2011, the April Booth of "Machete" was confused with fashion designer Donatella Versace when making an appearance at the Cynthia Rowley fashion show in New York. Several years earlier, she was mistaken for rocker Courtney Love.

Jennifer Aniston says NYC paparazzi drove her out

It doesn't seem like L.A. would be a big improvement, but Jennifer Aniston says the paparazzi, hungry for photos of her and new beau Justin Theroux, drove her out of New York and back to California.

"We tried New York," the 43-year-old "Wanderlust" star told Australia's Kyle and Jacki O. Show last week. "It felt like I was [living] in a fish bowl and I felt mortified for my neighbors."

It was only a little more than a year ago that the actress said, 'I grew up here. I miss it,' during an interview with New York's ABC News. "There is nothing like being in the city that is just the city of Everyman. It's all walks of life -- I love that!"

But now she's changed her tune. "It was a little rough with the paparazzi, it didn't feel like the New York I grew up in and knew," Aniston told the radio hosts last week about her recent stay in the Big Apple.

The actress,  43, says she's felt better ever since she moved into her new 8,500-square-foot Bel Air home last month.