Justin Timberlake’s licence suspended by court as he denies driving while intoxicated charge

Pop star Justin Timberlake has pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving while intoxicated after being stopped in Sag Harbor, New York. Photo / Getty Images

Pop star Justin Timberlake pleaded not guilty today to a charge of driving while intoxicated after being arrested in June in Sag Harbor, New York, where police spotted him failing to obey a stop sign and veering off lane.

Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace suspended Timberlake’s driving privileges in the state of New York, the court said, pending his next hearing on August 9.

The hearing was virtual. Timberlake was in Europe on a world tour to support his most recent album, Everything I Thought It Was.

During the hearing, the judge threatened Timberlake’s attorney Edward Burke with a gag order after comments he made to the press after the previous hearing on July 26, according to NBC News. Irace said Burke’s remarks came off as “an attempt to poison the case before it even begins”, according to NBC.

In July, Burke said the singer was not intoxicated and should not have been arrested.

“The police made a number of very significant errors in this case,” he told the media. “We are very confident that that charge, the criminal charge, will be dismissed.”

Timberlake, 43, was arrested on June 18 in the village of Sag Harbor on Long Island, where he was driving a grey BMW shortly after midnight.

When stopped by police, Timberlake’s eyes “were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odour of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he was unsteady afoot and performed poorly on all standardised field sobriety tests”, court documents said.

Timberlake told the officer he had drunk one martini before driving and refused to take a breathalyser test.