--- description: Did Justin Bieber try to steal a woman's phone or was the fan ruining his batting practice? title: Justin Bieber: Attorney Says Fan Was the Aggressor in Phone Incident image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33abf4eac32fb097/69868f6fcd68482c07094a93/just-justin.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Bieber Denies Stealing Phone, Says Fan Harassed Him at Batting Cages by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 15, 2014 8:34 AM CUT  Canadian singer Justin Bieber performs on stage in Helsinki on April 26, 2013 Canadian singer Justin Bieber performs on stage in Helsinki on April 26, 2013Reuters by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 15, 2014 8:34 AM CUT New details emerged on Wednesday surrounding [allegations](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/los-angeles-police-investigating-justin-bieber "undefined") that Justin Bieber tried to steal a female fan’s phone at a Los Angeles family-fun center earlier this week. The “Believe” singer’s attorney Howard Weitzman told the Associated Press that a fan approached the pop star on Monday night and was trying to take photographs while he was hitting baseballs in a batting cage. Weitzman said his 20-year-old client asked the fan to refrain from bothering him, and employees at the park later confirmed that the woman was being aggressive. “I would think this would fade away, given the facts here,” said Weitzman, according to the Associated Press. However, allegations reached police that Bieber ripped the phone out of the woman’s hand and started screaming at onlookers. Law-enforcement officers have interviewed the fan in question, and there are no reports that Bieber has been detained over the incident. Authorities are asking anyone with information to come forward. “The case remains under investigation, with detectives conducting numerous interviews,” LAPD said in a [statement](http://lapdblog.typepad.com/lapd%5Fblog/2014/05/lapd-news-detectives-investigate-incident-at-family-entertainment-center.html "undefined") on Wednesday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/100466/beiber-says-fan-harassed-him/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/100466/beiber-says-fan-harassed-him/"},"headline":"Bieber Denies Stealing Phone, Says Fan Harassed Him at Batting Cages","datePublished":"2014-05-15T08:34:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:50:59.942Z","description":"Police in Los Angeles are looking for more information as they continue an investigation of Justin Bieber for a fan's claim of attempted robbery, but whether the Canadian singer ripped a cell phone out of an aggressive fan's hand or \"stole\" it is not yet clear","url":"https://time.com/100466/beiber-says-fan-harassed-him/","keywords":["celebrities","Baseball","Justin Bieber","los angeles","LAPD"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33abf4eac32fb097/69868f6fcd68482c07094a93/just-justin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33abf4eac32fb097/69868f6fcd68482c07094a93/just-justin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Canadian singer Justin Bieber performs on stage during the \"I Believe Tour\" in Helsinki","caption":"Canadian singer Justin Bieber performs on stage during the \"I Believe Tour\" in Helsinki","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/100466/beiber-says-fan-harassed-him/","name":"Bieber Denies Stealing Phone, Says Fan Harassed Him at Batting Cages"}}]}] ```