Paparazzi Photographer Quits To Protest Britney Coverage

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 02.01.2008

A story of high-speed chases, slashed tires, and driving in the wrong lane...

When paparazzi have a crisis of conscience, events have clearly reached a serious level. So it is with Britney Spears, who was back under psychiatric evaluation in a Los Angeles hospital last night after the latest in a series of highly publicised meltdowns. Nick Stern has resigned from Splash, a Los Angeles-based but British-owned celebrity picture agency, in protest at the "aggressive" tactics employed in pursuing Spears, and predicted tragedy. "Directly or indirectly, Britney is going to come to some horrific end, or a member of the public will," he said. "It's not what's being done, it's the way it's being done. As she continues to deteriorate psychologically, I just can't see a positive way out."

The biggest threat, Stern said, came from the high-speed convoy of photographers' cars and motorcycles that follow Spears' every move through Los Angeles. The pursuit reached a new frenzy in the early hours of yesterday when the paparazzi tailed an ambulance and police escort taking the 26-year-old singer to hospital for the second time this month. "The paps are completely out of control... It's not unusual to have 20 or 30 cars pursuing her at any one time. It's become acceptable to drive at 80mph down the wrong side of the street into oncoming traffic. I was horrified at what goes on. It's so aggressive, there are fights and crashes and slashed tyres. I felt I needed to say something."

Credit: Perezhilton.com