Johansson chase ends in car crash

ACTRESS Scarlett Johansson was involved in an accident as she tried to elude paparazzi who had followed her to a Disneyland car park.

No one was hurt in last Thursday’s accident in Anaheim. Police said they were aware of what happened but did not have details.

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 after she left her Hollywood home, said her publicist Marcel Pariseau.

Johansson, 20, paid the 7 fee to enter a car park at the amusement park when she tried to get away from the vehicles and swerved, clipping the right side of a car carrying a woman and her two daughters.

“(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,” Mr Cousart said. “She was basically by herself. There wasn’t any car behind her closer than 40 yards.”

Anaheim Police Department Sergeant Rick Martinez said no one filed a police report.