Additional Coverage:
Sag Harbor, NY – Pop superstar Justin Timberlake is in court, not for a performance, but to keep police body camera footage of his 2024 Hamptons DWI arrest under wraps. His legal team is arguing that releasing the video would be a serious invasion of privacy.
Timberlake’s attorneys have petitioned a judge to block the video’s release entirely, or at least to conduct a private review and redact any material not subject to public disclosure under New York’s Freedom of Information Law. This comes as several news organizations, including NBC News, have filed requests for the bodycam footage.
In court documents filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court, Timberlake’s lawyers claim the video contains “personally identifiable information and private details” irrelevant to any public law enforcement action. They stress that “the harm from public exposure-stigma, harassment, reputational injury, and the permanent loss of privacy-is immediate and irreparable.”
Suffolk County Acting Supreme Court Justice Joseph Farneti has deferred a ruling, allowing both sides to negotiate, according to Vincent Toomey, an attorney representing the Village of Sag Harbor.
Toomey stated Monday that Sag Harbor and its police department had initially planned to release parts of the video, with “certain” privacy and investigatory redactions. “Mr.
Timberlake sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent the Village from doing so,” Toomey explained. Requests for comment from the Sag Harbor Village Police Department and its chief went unanswered Monday.
Sag Harbor Mayor Thomas Gardella confirmed that negotiations are in progress, emphasizing the village’s commitment to being “as transparent as possible.”
Timberlake’s legal team contends that the video extends far beyond the June 18, 2024, arrest, capturing “approximately eight (8) hours of continuous recording” that encroaches upon “areas of Petitioner’s life and emotional state that have no relevance at all to Petitioner’s arrest,” as stated in court documents by his lawyer, Edward D. Burke Jr., who reviewed the footage during Timberlake’s DWI case.
Burke also sent a letter to Sag Harbor’s police chief on Sunday, requesting that the video not be made public, citing the legitimate privacy interests of other bystanders captured in the footage.
Following his arrest, Timberlake admitted to having “one martini” before driving. He later pleaded guilty to driving while impaired on September 13, 2024, agreeing to 25 to 40 hours of community service and a fine. Outside the courthouse that day, Timberlake remarked, “This was a mistake that I made, but I’m hoping that whoever’s watching and listening right now can learn from this mistake.”