Nick Lachey learned the hard way that actions have consequences!!
Remember that terrible incident he experienced almost exactly a year ago when he chased a female paparazzi photographer in Beverly Hills during a night out with his wife. Vanessa Lachey?? You know, the one where Nick faced the photog, reached into his car, and tried to rip his cell phone out of his hand?!
Well, now he has approached the other end of that situation. And he will have enough time to sit down with some experts and find out why he behaved the way he did in that unfortunate exchange!
Related: Nick Throws A SUPER Shady Diss At Jessica Simpson During ‘Love Is Blind’ Reunion!
According to court documents taken there by DailyMail.com, 49-year-old former boy band star was officially charged with assault and battery a month after the initial incident. And the only way out of steeper fines and possible jail time is if Nick attends 52 weeks both sides anger management class and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. damn!!!
The celebrity photographer involved in the case is an 18-year veteran of the paparazzi game Jody Santos. He spoke to a news outlet this week. For one, she was glad Nick finally faced some consequences “after months of hounding” in her part directed at Beverly Hills Police Station.
The long-time star snapper first told us about his best day at the end of last March. He remembers driving to a popular restaurant Warung Steak Mastro in BH. There, he saw it Love Is Blind A couple of co-hosts exit the restaurant:
“Nick wasn’t on the radar. I just saw him and I figured I’d get a shot of a couple coming out of a restaurant. I’ve taken his photo many times and never had a problem, but this time was different.
He continued:
“He rejected me and then I heard Vanessa say, ‘open, open the door’ and then aggressively walked to my car. I immediately locked my door and rolled down my window as soon as possible. He then started punching the window. I thought his hand was going to break, it just hit the glass. I’m surprised he didn’t break the window.”
Shocked by the ex-boyband’s appalling behavior, Santos rolled down the window and asked:
“Why are you so mean to me, you used to be kind? Why did you hit my window?”
But the 98 degrees the singer is not done yet. Without warning, he was back:
“I thought he was walking away. I didn’t know if he would turn around and come back, but it happened. And this time he called me an ap***y mother f**ker, put his arm through my car window, and tried to take my cell phone. He couldn’t take it because it was tied around my neck and I tried to squeeze it into the passenger side as best I could.
And just to top it off, Santos shared a closer look from Lachey last night:
“I could smell alcohol on his breath. Then he asked me, ‘is the paparazzi still a thing?’ And I said, ‘well that’s why I’m here, I’m a photographer.'”
Even now a year later, the jaw-dropping exchange still resonates with the veteran photographer. He told the news outlet how, looking back, he knew Jessica SimpsonYour ex-husband “will beat me” if he doesn’t think to open the window quickly:
“In all my years of photographing celebrities, no one has ever tried to hit me. I’m just relieved I rolled up my window as fast as I did, otherwise they would have knocked me out. No doubt about it.
OMG!
Unfortunately, the resolution in this case has been (too) long. After the initial outburst, Jody filed a formal complaint with the BHPD. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office didn’t do much about it. For months, Jody had to call the DA again, and again, and again. Then, at the end of February, he finally achieved closure when Nick was given 52 weeks of anger management and AA pleas.
Related: ‘Love Is Blind’ Has Shaken Chatterjee Can’t Stop Calling Nick Lachey!
For Santos, the class was better than none. And he didn’t expect an apology from Lachey either:
“Until now, Nick is not responsible. He corrected. He thought it was over, but it wasn’t. A personal apology is rejected, then a written apology is rejected. Not one of his team asked, ‘Are you okay?’
Then, the photo was added:
“He took a lot of time to apologize, but he just thought I was going to leave. What he did was wrong. Trying to smash his fist through the car window when I was just taking photos of people. He should thank me for the free publicity. I mean, really. Talk about a huge ego.”
Seriously…
In the end, Santos used the interview as a way to get out of his story – even though it happened a long time ago. He also had some choice words for the Ohio-born star, who complained of being the victim of a “clickbait” narrative when paparazzi incidents reached the media:
“I want Nick to understand that it’s not OK to follow a photographer, let alone a woman and use rude and sexist language. He needs to take responsibility for his actions. It’s one thing to be rude to a woman and call her names, it’s another thing to blame her. other people and lied about what really happened. They lied about the truth and blamed me.”
Santos concluded:
“Nick would not be very happy if he was sent to an anger management class. This could all have been avoided if Nick had just taken responsibility for his behavior. He is not above the law and as a father and public figure, the least he can do is be a decent human being.
Well said on her side. It’s sad that everyone has to come here anyway!
Thoughts, Perezcious readers??
[Image via Adriana M. Barraza/Brian To/WENN]