Louis Tomlinson appeared to accidentally cause a photographer to fall when he grabbed his camera in an airport row.
The former One Direction star was released on bail after an altercation with a paparazzo and two girls at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday (03.03.17), and video footage shows the singer lunging for Karl Larssen’s equipment to stop him taking pictures of girlfriend Eleanor Calder, before he seemingly fell as he bent to pick something up, knocked into the photographer, causing him to land flat on his back.
A source observed: “Louis got into an argument with the photographer when he refused to stop taking pictures of Eleanor.
“When he eventually walked away they bumped into each other and got tangled up.
“It’s clear that no assault took place.
“The video shows that.”
Louis then walked away but had to wade in when Eleanor got involved in an altercation with some female fans.
In video footage obtained by RadarOnline, Louis can be heard shouting “What the hell is happening?” and “Can we get some help?” before rushing over to help Eleanor, who was pushed into a corner by the females.
Louis attempted to intervene and pull the women off his girlfriend, and as he did so, hit the ground himself.
A source told The Sun newspaper: “He spotted Eleanor being attacked and rushed over to split them up.
“Eleanor had spotted them filming and asked them to stop, which is when they started fighting her and pushed her into a corner.
“Louis pulled them apart and in the process went flying on to the ground himself.
“All he was doing was defending his girlfriend.
“His focus was getting Eleanor and himself to safety.”
And video footage has also emerged of one of the females in the incident revealing her intentions to put the One Direction star in jail after the altercation.
The clip begins with the woman and her friend answering police questions.
She said: “I was with the girl over here, I had the phone here.
She then spoke on her phone to a friend, before realising she was being filmed, and smiled at the camera and said: “Yeah I’m gonna press charges… Yeah he’s going to go to jail”
Asked what happened, she said: “The guy socked me.
“She just pulled my phone, we started fighting, then the guy just grabbed me and threw me to the floor and he socked me and that’s it.”
She then showed the camera a small cut on her left eye.
The ‘Just Hold On’ hitmaker was later arrested and booked for simple battery. He was originally released on $20.000 bail but won’t have to pay out unless he fails to attend court in Los Angeles on March 29.
His lawyer Martin Singer said: “The paparazzi provoked and caused the altercation that occurred with Louis. It’s not the first time that a paparazzi has created an altercation with a celebrity. While the altercation was going on with the paparazzi, three other individuals were attacking his girlfriend during this incident and he came to her defence.”
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