Justin Timberlake has filed suit against the Village of Sag Harbor, its police department and police chief to prevent the release of body camera footage from the pop star’s 2024 drunken-driving arrest, with the actor and musician arguing it would “devastate” his privacy, according to newly released court filings.
Timberlake and his attorneys are seeking a temporary restraining order from a Suffolk County Supreme Court judge to block the release of the footage, captured by police during his traffic stop and arrest on June 18, 2024, as part of a Freedom of Information Law request by members of the media, according to the March 2 court filing.
The footage depicts Timberlake “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 states.
Release of this footage, according to Timberlake attorney Michael Del Piano, “would cause severe and irreparable harm to petitioner’s personal and professional reputation, subject petitioner to public ridicule and harassment, and serve no legitimate public interest in understanding the operations of government. Disclosure of this footage would constitute an unwarranted invasion of petitioner’s personal privacy.”
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- Attorneys for Justin Timberlake have filed an emergency court order seeking to block the Village of Sag Harbor from releasing body camera footage from his 2024 drunken-driving arrest.
- Release of the footage to members of the media could “cause severe and irreparable harm to petitioner’s personal and professional reputation,” according to the court filings.
- Timberlake pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired by alcohol, a noncriminal lesser charge, and was sentenced to 25 hours of community service and ordered to pay a $500 fine.
The application names Timberlake as the petitioner and the Village of Sag Harbor, its police department and Chief Robert Drake as respondents.
Sag Harbor Mayor Thomas Gardella told Newsday that the village, after conducting an internal review, had planned to release the footage on Monday but will now wait on the court’s ruling before taking any additional steps.
“We’re not trying to hide anything,” Gardella said in an interview Monday. “If we were to redact a lot of stuff that’s not necessary, then someone else could sue us and claim we are trying to hide certain things. And we’re not. We are just doing what is proper for us. We’re protecting the security of the village and the public.”
Attorneys for Timberlake did not respond to requests for comment.
Timberlake was driving a gray 2025 BMW with Florida plates south on Madison Street at 12:17 a.m. on June 18 when he failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection with Jermain Avenue, Sag Harbor police and Suffolk prosecutors said at the time. He also failed to keep right, police said.
His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, he had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, he exhibited slowed speech and was unsteady on his feet, police said. The police report noted Timberlake “performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests.”
Timberlake pleaded not guilty to driving while intoxicated after his arrest but agreed to plead guilty to driving while ability impaired by alcohol, a lesser, noncriminal charge after negotiations with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s Office.
On Sept. 13, 2024, Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace sentenced Timberlake to 25 hours of community service for the nonprofit of his choice and ordered him to pay a $500 fine, along with a $260 surcharge. Irace also ordered him to issue a public safety announcement. Timberlake’s driver’s license was suspended in New York State for 90 days.
“What I’d like to say to everyone watching and listening, even if you’ve had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car,” Timberlake told the media and fans outside the Sag Harbor Municipal Building after his sentencing. “There are so many alternatives. Call a friend, take an Uber, there are many travel apps, take a taxi. This is a mistake that I made but I am hoping that whoever is watching and listening right now can learn from this mistake.”
On Sunday, village officials notified Timberlake’s trial attorney, Edward D. Burke Jr., that they planned to release all eight hours of bodycam footage from the arrest, subject to undisclosed redactions for “medical” reasons and for the security of the Sag Harbor police complex, according to the new court filings.
The footage, Burke said in an affidavit filed as part of the application, contains the initial traffic stop, the officer’s questioning of Timberlake, field sobriety tests and the pop star’s subsequent arrest.
“Once the footage is released to the requestor(s) and disseminated online or through media, the disclosure cannot be undone,” Burke wrote in his affidavit. “Digital copies can be replicated indefinitely, beyond the court’s ability to retrieve or control, rendering any subsequent relief inadequate. The harm from public exposure — stigma, harassment, reputational injury, and the permanent loss of privacy — is immediate and irreparable.”
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
