The Legal Aftermath of Louis Tomlinson’s LAX Arrest
Things are getting messy for One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson, who was arrested at LAX on Friday night after an incident involving his on-again girlfriend Eleanor Calder, a photographer, and a woman (who may or may not have been a fan). ICYMI, Tomlinson and Calder had just arrived to the airport from Las Vegas when the singer became upset with a photographer he felt was too close for comfort. Tomlinson approached the photog to try to get him stop taking pictures — and while he was doing that, Calder got into a scuffle with another female who was recording her. The situation escalated, and Tomlinson knocked both the photographer and the woman down to the floor.
In video footage of the incident, Tomlinson can be seen struggling with the photographer before they both tumble down. The star then sees his girlfriend grappling with a few women nearby and springs up, saying, “What the hell is happening? Can we get some help?” before heading over to them. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested, and his camp put out a statement insisting he wasn’t to blame.
“The paparazzi provoked and caused the altercation that occurred with Louis. It’s not the first time that a paparazzi has created an altercation with a celebrity,” it began. “While the altercation was going on with the paparazzi, three other individuals were attacking his girlfriend during this incident and he came to her defense.” Meanwhile, however, the other woman who was knocked to the floor insisted that wasn’t what happened and (happily) revealed her intention to press charges.
The woman he allegedly attacked rattled off a series of tweets in the aftermath, defending herself against Tomlinson’s fans. “People are seriously trying to convince me to ‘change my mind’ about the fight,” she shared. “That’s [w]hat happened and I’m not gonna lie about it.” Her tweet trailed off with “even if” — but didn’t specify what.
She also claimed that she was in real physical danger during the incident. “Literally I hit my head on the ground a little bit harder I could have an cerebral hemorrage,” she wrote.
Later, she added, “#WeSupportLouis is actually trending he abused a girl!! I COULD HAVE SERIOUSLY DIED.”
Her tweets continued through Monday morning, blasting back at people who challenged her version of events. Then she switched her account to private, but that hardly meant she was going away.
In another video that surfaced, when asked if she was going to press charges, she smiled and said, “Yeah, I’m going to press charges.” (She was on the phone with someone who had arrived at the airport to pick her up but still managed to answer the questions of the man who was filming her.) “She pulled my phone and we started fighting, and then the guy, he grabbed me and he threw me to the floor and he socked me. That’s it,” she explained of her altercation with Calder. A smile spread across her face as she added, “The guy, he socked me … He’s going to jail.”
Tomlinson was booked at a nearby jail, but released shortly thereafter. The 25-year-old star reportedly wanted the photographer arrested, but it’s not looking like that’s going to happen. After reviewing the video footage and speaking to witnesses, police determined that the singer was the aggressor rather than the photographer and, sources say, they will forward the file to prosecutors for a possible criminal battery case. We’ll have to wait and see whether the woman who wants him in jail gets her wish, but it seems that police are taking the event very seriously.
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