How Long Can Justin Timberlake Keep His Arrest Video Quiet?

Photo Credit: Rio Space

Justin Timberlake’s lawyers secure a temporary restraining order to block the release of the police body cam footage of his 2024 drunk driving arrest.

After filing suit against the Village of Sag Harbor on Monday, Justin Timberlake’s attorneys have secured a temporary restraining order to block the release of police body cam footage of the artist’s 2024 drunk driving arrest.

On Thursday, the order by Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Joseph Farneti grants Sag Harbor until April 9 to submit documentation explaining why it should be permitted to release the footage. The video contains details of Timberlake’s traffic stop, sobriety field test, and subsequent arrest on June 18, 2024, and its public release was requested by members of the media per the Freedom of Information Act.

Timberlake’s initial filing cited privacy concerns and sought a court order to block the release of the eight-hour footage. According to the filing, the footage shows Timberlake “in an acutely vulnerable state during a roadside encounter with law enforcement.” It captures “intimate details of [Timberlake’s] physical appearance, demeanor, speech, and conduct during field sobriety testing, the subsequent arrest, and [his] confinement following arrest over the next several hours.”

According to Timberlake’s attorney, Michael Del Piano, releasing this footage “would cause severe and irreparable harm to [Timberlake’s] personal and professional reputation, subject [him] to public ridicule and harassment, and serve no legitimate public interest.” Del Piano added that disclosure of the footage “would constitute an unwarranted invasion” of Timberlake’s privacy.

On Tuesday, Jed Painter, general counsel to Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, asked Judge Farneti to uphold a 2024 protective order issued in Sag Harbor court that prevented the public release of any footage from Timberlake’s arrest.

“Our interest is limited to the important institutional and public policy considerations implicated by the potential erosion of judicial protective orders,” said Painter. “We take no position on the privacy interests asserted by [Timberlake]. Rather, we focus upon the order underlying the criminal case that is presently before the court, and which has never been rescinded.”

Judge Farneti directed both sides to discuss whether they can reach a resolution to the dispute and to report back to the court by midweek, according to Sag Harbor attorney Vincent Toomey.

Timberlake was driving a 2025 BMW with Florida plates when he failed to stop at a stop sign in the early hours of June 18 in the ritzy town of Sag Harbor on Long Island. His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and he had a strong smell of alcohol on his breath, according to police. He “performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests,” exhibited slow speech, and was unsteady on his feet.

The former *NSYNC star pleaded not guilty to driving while intoxicated after his arrest, but agreed to plead guilty to driving while ability impaired by alcohol—a lesser, noncriminal charge. In September 2024, he was sentenced to 25 hours of community service and ordered to pay a $500 fine, a $260 surcharge, and to issue a public safety announcement. His license was also suspended in the state of New York for 90 days.