Maria Puente

USA TODAY

What happened late on the night of Dec. 29 in Toronto%3F

The Canadian case surfaces as Bieber is beset by bad news

Screaming fans and media horde greet him at a police station tonight

The bad news continues to pile up for Justin Bieber — he's back in Toronto tonight, and he's facing assault charges.

Bieber has been charged with assault after police allege he hit a limousine driver several times in the back of the head, the Associated Press reports.

Bieber turned himself in to Toronto police on Wednesday, the second arrest in a week for the baby-faced 19-year-old pop star. He spent about an hour and a half in the police station before leaving through a back exit.

Bieber was charged with one count of assault and is scheduled to appear in court in Toronto on March 10.

It supposedly happened on Dec. 29, when Bieber was in town and attending a Toronto Maple Leafs game, says the Canadian TV network CBC.

Police were called to investigate allegations that some kind of fracas took place involving Bieber's entourage and a limo driver who was driving the pop star and several others around Toronto.

At the time, the cops were close-mouthed about the case, and it wasn't even clear that Bieber was involved in the alleged assault or was merely in the limo at the time.

A spokesman for Bieber had no comment on any of this today but his manager, Scooter Braun, tweeted late Wednesday: "i ask people to be kind and hope for the best in people. not assume the worst. thanks"

Why the case is surfacing now isn't entirely clear either, but it's not helping the image of the once squeaky-clean pop star-turned-troublemaker, who's already being investigated for allegedly egging his neighbor's house in California and for alleged drag-racing and DUI in Florida. (He filed papers pleading not guilty to DUI, resisting arrest and driving with an expired license in Florida on Wednesday.)

Some Americans are so fed up they've posted petitions on the White House We the People website, demanding Bieber be deported back to Canada. It's a move that has no legal force but it looks bad for the Biebs. So far, more than 132,000 people have signed one petition. The White House is supposed to respond after 100,000 sign a petition, but so far it has not.

Bieber, who once said he would never become an American citizen because Canada is so much better and has a national health service, is a legal resident of the USA under a type of visa granted to entertainers. If he were to be convicted of a serious crime, he could be deported, but it's not likely.

A Canadian conviction on a serious offense wouldn't affect his status in the USA, but there's always a possibility it could slow him down when he tries to re-enter the country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.







