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A paparazzo was struck by a car and killed after taking photos of a white Ferrari be-

lieved to belong to pop star Justin Bieber on a busy Los Angeles street, police told NBC

News on Wednesday.

Madeline Nightingale, the watch commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s

West Traffic Bureau, said the photographer was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical

Center shortly after Tuesday night’s collision.

Bieber’s vehicle was not involved in the crash, officials said.

The deceased, a white male in his late 20s, was not named pending notification of next

of kin, she said.

“From what we understand, the car was owned by Justin Bieber, but he was not in the

vehicle at the time,” Nightingale said.

A call by The Associated Press to a spokesperson for the singer was not immediately

returned. Bieber’s Twitter feed made no mention of the incident early Wednesday.

Police would offer no information on the Ferrari’s driver except to say the individual

was believed to be a friend of the 18-year-old Canadian singer.  The incident occurred

about 5:45 p.m. local time (8:45 p.m. ET) Tuesday after a California Highway Patrol

officer flagged the Ferrari for speeding on the northbound 405 Freeway, Nightingale

said. The car then exited at Sepulveda Boulevard and Getty Center Drive, she said.

During the traffic stop, the photographer crossed the busy Sepulveda thoroughfare,

which runs parallel to the 405, and attempted to shoot photos of the vehicle’s occu-

pants from a perch on the narrow divider, Nightingale said.  The Highway Patrol

officer on the scene repeatedly warned the man that his position was dangerous,

she said.  The man was then struck by a car traveling southbound on Sepulevda,

Nightingale said.  No charges were expected to be filed against the motorist, who

stopped her car to attempt to administer assistance, Nightingale told NBC News.

The driver was a woman with two young children in the vehicle, Nightingale said.

The scene was still behind held at around 12:30 a.m. local time Wednesday (3:30

a.m. ET), she said. The investigation had been handed over from the West Traffic

Bureau to the LAPD’s Multi-Disciplinary Collision Investigation Team, she said.

“We are going methodically to take our time to get everything we need to get the

investigation resolved,” Nightingale added.

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