The Miami Beach police officer who said he saw Justin Bieber drag racing before his DUI arrest, may have been lying. The GPS from the officer’s patrol car shows that he was traveling at normal speeds at the time he contacted Bieber.
The officer reported that Bieber was traveling at 55 to 60 mph, but the fastest the officer ever drove was 49 mph. At the 3700 block of Pine Tree Drive, the officer had slowed to 31 mph. This is significant because if the officer told the truth about the location of the drag race, the 3700 block of Pine Tree Drive would have been in the middle of the drag race. The information from the officer’s GPS calls into question the officer’s credibility. In addition, the other officer, who claimed to smell alcohol on Bieber’s breath, may have credibility issues because Bieber’s breath test showed a BAC of .014, which is well below the legal limit.
Khalil, the person who was allegedly drag racing Bieber, was also charged with a DUI. Khalil’s defense attorney has said he plans to use the information from the GPS to attack the officer’s credibility. Generally, attacking the credibility of a witness comes in the form of impeachment. For example, if the officer testifies that Bieber was driving 60 mph and that he was following Bieber, then a good defense attorney would confront the officer with the GPS records from his own patrol car to show that the officer was lying. Once it is established that the officer lied about one fact, it then calls into question whether he was lying about the entirety of his investigation. If a jury does not believe a primary witness, there is a good chance the jury will find Bieber and Khalil not guilty of the DUI and drag racing.