Bieber in foul-mouthed rant during arrest

A judge has set Justin Bieber’s bail at $2,500 (€1,826) after he appeared in court following his arrest in Florida.

The troubled teenage pop singer appeared via video link on charges of drag racing, driving under the influence and resisting arrest.

The 19-year-old, who had been drinking and smoking marijuana, was arrested in Miami Beach.

Speaking at a press conference, Miami Beach Chief of Police Raymond A Martinez said the star resisted arrest although he had done so “without violence”.

The officer told reporters: “He did acknowledge that he did take a prescription medication and that he had been smoking marijuana and that he did consume a beer”.

Bieber — famed for hits such as ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘Beauty And A Beat’ — was arrested after police saw two cars racing at 4.09am local time yesterday and Mr Martinez said officers “estimated he was going anywhere up to 55 to 60 miles an hour”.

A copy of the arrest report, published by the police, said Bieber swore at officers when he was stopped.

The arresting officer said the singer had “bloodshot eyes” and added that he could smell alcohol on his breath. He added that he asked Bieber to take his hands out of his pockets and the teenager replied: “I ain’t got no fucking weapons — why do you have to search me?

“What the fuck is this about?”

The police also issued a photograph of Bieber on their Twitter account which appeared to show the singer in an orange prison-issue jumpsuit.

Two vehicles had apparently been used to block off an area for the drag race, with Bieber in a yellow Lamborghini.

R&B singer Khalil, the driver of a red Ferrari also involved in the race, was also arrested.

Bieber failed a field sobriety test and was taken to the Miami Beach police station for a breath test.

Video footage has been broadcast on American TV apparently showing Bieber behind the wheel of his car being followed by fans shortly before the arrest.

Mr Martinez said the two cars “were starting from a stop position and they were accelerating up to a high rate of speed and going almost double the speed limit in that area”.

The arrest comes on the back of months of scrapes for the singer, who announced to his fans last month he was retiring, only to explain it away as a joke shortly afterwards.

The Canadian megastar has enjoyed a meteoric rise to global fame and is one of the most popular people on Twitter — with well over 48m followers.

His career began in 2007 after YouTube videos of him singing in competitions went viral.

They were spotted by record label executives and in October 2008 he signed to Island Records.

He has also amassed a fortune — earning $55m (more than €40m) in one year between May 2011 and May 2012 — according to Forbes.