Johansson Ducks Photogs, Hits Car
Actress Scarlett Johansson was involved in an accident as she tried to elude paparazzi who had tracked her to a Disneyland parking lot, her publicist said.
No one was hurt in Thursday's accident in Anaheim. Police said they were aware of what happened but did not have details, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
The incident is the latest involving actors trying to escape the paparazzi. In May, a celebrity photographer was arrested on suspicion of hitting actress Lindsay Lohan's car near a shopping mall. Prosecutors announced earlier this month that paparazzi who allegedly chased actress Reese Witherspoon from her gym to her home won't face criminal charges.
Johansson was with two friends when she noticed four sports utility vehicles following her on Interstate 5 after she left her Hollywood home, said her publicist Marcel Pariseau.
Johansson, 20, paid the $10 parking fee to enter a lot at the amusement park when she tried to get away from the vehicles and swerved, clipping the right side of car carrying a woman and her two daughters, Pariseau said.
"(The) four SUVs surrounded the accident," Pariseau said. "She saw one photographer come out of his car and start snapping away."
Arnold Cousart, co-owner of JFX Direct photo agency, acknowledged that two of his photographers had been following Johansson for four days and had tracked her to Disneyland, along with at least one other photographer from a rival agency.
But he said that his photographers had nothing to do with the collision.
"Our photographers were about a block (behind her) when the collision occurred," Cousart said. "She was basically by herself. There wasn't any car behind her closer than 40 yards (36.56 meters)."
Anaheim Police Department Sgt. Rick Martinez said no one filed a police report and police are not investigating the accident. California Highway Patrol officers who responded to the accident did not take a report because the crash occurred within the city of Anaheim, a CHP spokesman said.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office is investigating whether increasingly aggressive celebrity photographers are initiating confrontations to capture lucrative photos.
Johansson, who has starred in such movies as "Lost in Translation" and "The Island," has left Los Angeles and hopes that state legislators will enact a law "to avoid these situations," Pariseau said.
"She's frustrated," he said. "She can't deal with it anymore."