Justin Timberlake’s lawyer vows to ‘vigorously defend’ drink-driving allegations

By Naomi Clarke, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter

Justin Timberlake’s lawyer has said he is looking forward to “vigorously defending” the US singer after he was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.

The 43-year-old pop star and actor was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Sag Harbor, a wealthy village in the Hamptons, in New York state, after he failed to maintain his lane of travel and pause at a stop sign, the local police department said.

Timberlake was held overnight and formally charged with a DWI (driving while intoxicated) misdemeanour before being released, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.

In a statement shared to the PA news agency on Wednesday, attorney Edward Burke Jr said: “I look forward to vigorously defending Mr Timberlake on these allegations.

“I will have a lot to say at the appropriate time but am currently awaiting full discovery from the District Attorney’s office.”

Timberlake was pulled over on Tuesday at 12.37am local time after police saw him “failing to stop at a duly posted stop sign and failing to maintain his lane of travel” while driving his 2025 BMW, a statement from Sag Harbor Village Police Department said.

An officer who stopped him described his eyes as being “bloodshot and glassy” and said a “strong odour of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath”, according to a court document.

“He was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot and he performed poorly on all standardised field sobriety tests,” the court papers added.

Timberlake was placed under arrest and held overnight until he was arraigned at Sag Harbor Village Justice Court on Tuesday morning and then released.

His next court date is scheduled for July 26, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said.

The Cry Me A River singer is due to perform two shows in Chicago this week before two more at Madison Square Garden in New York next week.

He will also travel to cities including Boston, Baltimore and Cleveland for his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour.

The European leg, which is due to begin in Krakow, Poland, on July 26 includes performances in Birmingham and Manchester as well as two dates at The O2 in London in August.

The Grammy winner, who rose to fame as a member of boy band NSYNC, released his latest solo album, Everything I Thought It Was, in March.

Timberlake started off as a child star after appearing on Disney Channel’s Mickey Mouse Club, which produced several other A-listers including US pop star and Timberlake’s former girlfriend Britney Spears, Genie In A Bottle singer Christina Aguilera and actor Ryan Gosling,

On screen he is known for his appearances in films including The Social Network (2010) and Friends With Benefits (2011).

Timberlake’s representatives have been contacted for comment.