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An assault charge against pop star Justin Bieber was withdrawn in a Toronto court on Monday after the prosecutor said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction, local media reported, clearing up one Canadian legal battle for the superstar just as another begins.
Bieber had been charged in January in connection with an alleged assault on a limousine driver in Toronto in December. The driver alleged he had picked up six people, including Bieber, outside a nightclub and that the singer had struck him on the back of the head several times during an altercation on the way to a hotel.
Bieber’s lawyer and the Canadian prosecutor could not be immediately reached on Monday for comment on the dropping of the charge.
While the December incident may now be behind him, 20-year-old Bieber is still not out of legal trouble in Canada. He was arrested and charged with assault and dangerous driving just over a week ago near the town of Stratford, Ontario, where he grew up.
The charges came after two drivers got into a “physical altercation”, according to a police news release, on Aug. 29 after a minivan and an all-terrain vehicle collided near Stratford. Bieber was visiting the area with Selena Gomez, the pop singer and former Disney TV star. The two have been in a four-year, on-and-off relationship.
“Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez’ peaceful retreat in Stratford this weekend was unfortunately disrupted by the unwelcome presence of paparazzi,” Bieber’s lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said in an emailed statement last week.
Bieber, whose songs include the hits Boyfrien and Beauty and a Beat, has been a favorite paparazzi target and has attracted more attention lately for his legal run-ins than for his chart-toppers.
Bieber is on probation in Los Angeles after pleading no contest in July to misdemeanor vandalism for pelting a neighbor’s home with eggs.
Bieber’s arrest in Canada came weeks after he pleaded guilty to careless driving and resisting an officer without violence in Florida, part of a deal to resolve allegations he had been drag racing in a Lamborghini under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
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