How Timberlake’s DWI Arrest Footage Lawsuit Ended

Justin Timberlake’s lawsuit to block release of the bodycam footage from his June 2024 DWI arrest failed. He sued the Village of Sag Harbor and its police department on March 2, 2026, won a short temporary restraining order, then settled after about two weeks of negotiation over redactions. In the joint court filing that ended the case, Timberlake conceded the footage “did not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” and the village released roughly eight hours of partially redacted video on March 21, 2026.¹²

Why Timberlake Went to Court

By early 2026, the Sag Harbor Police Department was preparing to hand over the footage in response to public-records requests that had been pending since the day after the arrest. Hours before the planned release, Timberlake’s lawyers filed suit in State Supreme Court in Suffolk County and sought an emergency order to stop the disclosure.³

The complaint described the roughly eight hours of video as an “unwarranted invasion of privacy.” It said the recordings captured Timberlake in an “acutely vulnerable state” and documented “intimate details” of his appearance, demeanor, speech, and conduct during sobriety testing, handcuffing, and confinement. His attorneys also argued the footage contained information of a “medical, familial, or otherwise confidential nature” that the public did not need in order to evaluate how officers had done their jobs.⁴ Release, they said, would cause “severe and irreparable harm” through “public ridicule and harassment” and lasting “stigma” and “reputational injury.”⁵

Criminal defense attorney Michael Bachner, commenting publicly on the filing, said Timberlake faced an “uphill battle” because he had already pleaded guilty to a violation, weakening any argument that release would jeopardize a legal proceeding or a remaining due-process interest.⁵

What the Judge Did

Judge Joseph Farneti declined to grant the emergency injunction Timberlake wanted. On March 5, 2026, he issued a temporary restraining order that kept the footage off-limits while the parties talked, and he directed both sides to meet and try to work out the dispute.⁶

How the Case Ended

The village, represented by attorney Vincent Toomey, had already run the video through its own lawyers and police reviewers before Timberlake filed suit, blurring or muting portions tied to security and personal-privacy concerns.⁵ Mayor Thomas Gardella said the town was trying to be “as transparent as possible.”

Over roughly two weeks, Timberlake’s lawyers and the village negotiated a further set of redactions. They then submitted a joint filing in which Timberlake dropped his central legal claim, agreeing the footage “did not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”¹ The judge lifted the temporary restraining order. The village posted the partially redacted video on March 21, 2026, about 21 months after the first records request.²

Toomey framed the result as consistent with the village’s position throughout: “The Village has attempted to comply with the mandates of the Freedom of Information Law. As would be true in any case involving records or video footage from our Police Department, such material is reviewed and redacted to address public and officer safety concerns as well as personal privacy considerations.”⁷

What the Released Footage Shows

The video runs about eight hours and covers the traffic stop, field sobriety tests, the arrest, and Timberlake’s processing at the station. During the stop, he told the officer, “I’m on a world tour” and “I’m Justin Timberlake.” He performed the standardized sobriety tests but refused a breath test.⁸

One sequence involves an unidentified female friend who repeatedly urged officers not to arrest him. As he was placed in handcuffs, she pleaded, “You can’t, like, put him in jail,” and asked whether she could drive him home instead. She also tried appealing to the officers as fans, saying, “You love ‘Bye Bye Bye,’ you’re on ‘SexyBack’ — one favor.” The officers declined and explained he would be held and processed. The video ends with Timberlake seated in a patrol vehicle.⁸

Media interest in the video had partly focused on whether it would line up with Timberlake’s earlier claim that he had consumed only “a single martini” that night.⁵

The Arrest and Plea That Preceded the Fight

On June 18, 2024, a Sag Harbor officer stopped Timberlake after seeing him drift left and run a stop sign. He had been at the American Hotel earlier that evening. He submitted to standardized field sobriety tests, refused a breath test, and was charged with one count of driving while intoxicated plus two traffic citations for failing to stay in his lane and failing to stop at a stop sign.⁹

He initially pleaded not guilty at a virtual appearance on August 2, 2024. A clerical error by prosecutors required the charge to be refiled and Timberlake to enter a second not-guilty plea.¹⁰ On September 13, 2024, in Sag Harbor Village Court, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of driving while ability impaired, a traffic infraction rather than a misdemeanor. The DWI count was dropped.¹¹ His sentence was a $500 fine plus a $260 surcharge, 25 hours of community service at a nonprofit of his choosing within one year, and a 90-day suspension of his New York driver’s license.¹² He was also required to deliver a public safety statement, which he did on the courthouse steps: “I found myself in a position where I could have made a different decision. Even if you’ve had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Timberlake “received the same treatment as any other defendant.”¹³

The Records Fight That Forced the Release

The day after the arrest, the Express News Group, publisher of the Sag Harbor Express, filed a request for all bodycam, dashcam, and audio recordings under New York’s Freedom of Information Law. The village denied it, citing interference with a pending judicial proceeding. Other outlets, including NBC News, filed similar requests.¹⁴⁶

After the guilty plea, the Express News Group filed a second request. The village denied that one too, this time pointing to a protective order the Sag Harbor Village Justice Court had issued against disclosure. Cornell Law School’s First Amendment Clinic, representing the paper through its Local Journalism Project and attorney Michael Linhorst, appealed both denials. The Clinic argued the protective order did not bind the police department, which was not a party to it, and that a court order in a concluded criminal case could not override FOIL.⁶ The Clinic said the arrest process must remain open to public scrutiny “regardless of who is involved” so that the public could “assess whether police handled the traffic stop and investigation appropriately.”¹⁵ That pressure, and the department’s decision in early 2026 to release the video, are what triggered Timberlake’s lawsuit in the first place.

1
Variety. Justin Timberlake Drunk Driving Arrest Footage Released
2
27East. Sag Harbor Express Police News
3
New York Times. Justin Timberlake Arrest Lawsuit Body Camera
4
ABC7 NY. Justin Timberlake Sues to Block Release of Police Video From DWI Arrest
5
NBC New York. Justin Timberlake Suing to Keep DWI Video Hidden From NY Town
6
Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic. FOIL
7
ABC7 NY. Police Video of Justin Timberlake’s DWI Arrest Released
8
ABC News. Body Camera Footage of Justin Timberlake’s DWI Arrest
9
NPR. Justin Timberlake Drunk Driving Arrest Concert
10
Court TV. DA Anticipates Justin Timberlake Will Enter a Plea in DWI Case
11
CBS News. Justin Timberlake DWI Arrest Plea Deal Long Island
12
ABC7 NY. Singer Justin Timberlake Expected in Sag Harbor Village Court to Take Plea Deal in DWI Case
13
ABC News. Justin Timberlake Pleads Guilty to Driving While Ability Impaired
14
NBC News. Justin Timberlake Sues to Stop Release of Video Showing DWI Arrest
15
27East. Editorial