Keanu cleared for injuring paparazzo

Keanu cleared for injuring paparazzo

Nov 4, 2008 9:12 PM

Actor Keanu Reeves was cleared of any liability for injuries a paparazzo claimed he suffered when he was struck by the actor's car.

A Los Angeles jury deliberated for about an hour in the civil lawsuit brought by photographer Alison Silva against the Matrix star before clearing Reeves.

Silva claimed he was knocked to the ground and injured his wrist in March 2007 when he was trying to take pictures of Reeves leaving a house in his Porsche in the affluent Ranchos Palos Verdes area of Los Angeles.

Silva was seeking damages of about $640,800 for medical bills and past and future lost earnings.

Reeves, 44, testified last week that he did not knock the photographer down to avoid having his picture taken, saying the man stumbled and fell while walking backward from the car.

The civil trial followed a series of clashes in Los Angeles this past year between paparazzi and celebrities including rap star Kanye West, 300 star Gerard Butler and actors Matthew McConaughey and Pierce Brosnan.

Tensions have run so high that some Los Angeles city officials have considered new laws including a personal safety zone between celebrities and paparazzi.

Silva said he was taking pictures of Reeves after the actor visited his sister, who had an eating disorder.

Silva's lawyer had told the jury that his client was a timid rather than an aggressive photographer that night.

But Reeves' lawyer said Silva risked his own safety needlessly to try to get a picture.

"He was looking forward to making a lot of money that night from an image he thought he could sell," lawyer Alfred Gerisch told the jury last week.

"He threw caution to the wind, he threw out common sense."

Source: Reuters

RE: Times Square Gossip's SINCERE APOLOGY TO KEANU REEVES

Duh. Our perception of the "rich and famous" is perverse, and stupid, and more perverse--until the cops and media want our photo and our name to kick around, too. Think people, how stupid are you to think and believe such highly stupid things BLINDLY, without balanced reasoning?

I recently justified myself with another celeb, a Cleveland Cavalier Zydrunas Ilgauskas was a no show for a basketball game--and everyone went ballistic. It was said his wife was in hospital, which to me said he was a good man to go to her, not a game. But that's just me.

Their stillborn twins says it all, or should.

I never once assumed he was blowing off a game or grandstanding, and I don't really like him all that much as a player, or person--but I don't really know him personally, and yet I believed, with limited facts, that his reasons had to be just.

So, for me, it's not just who I like, it's about the balance of justice, reasonable doubt, and respect for another human living this human's life, just like me.

--Neale Sourna
===============================================
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

SINCERE APOLOGY TO KEANU REEVES

With regard to a story published on Keanu Reeves altercation with a paparazzi, which we got from news services we have since learned the real facts.

Mr. Reeves did not “run over” Mr. Da Silva nor did he even “hit” him with his car.

At worst, if Mr. Reeves’ vehicle even came into contact with the photographer, it is possible that Mr. Reeves may have slightly grazed Mr. Da Silva as he was attempting to slowly and carefully maneuver his car away from him (in a slow, rolling manner) while Mr. Da Silva brashly and carelessly planted himself directly in front of Mr. Reeves vehicle and continued to take rapid fire flash photos of Mr. Reeves as he started to pull away from the curb.

Mr. Reeves certainly did not “go after” Mr. Da Silva “like he wanted to kill him”, nor did he start driving away from Mr. Da Silva only to return and “drive straight at him”.

The fact was, that Mr. Reeves was barely going one mile per-hour. Prior to slowly beginning to inch away from the curb, Mr. Reeves backed up and twice drove forward slowly, in an effort to indicate his intention to leave and expecting the paparazzo to move away, but to no avail.

Mr. Da Silva continued to stand directly in front of of Mr. Reeves car blocking his way and snapping photos even after Mr. Reeves’ specifically told him to “move out of the way.”

Mr. Reeves also did not attempt to “flee the scene”. To the contrary, as soon as Mr. Reeves heard Mr. Da Silva calling out about “his knee,” he immediately pulled into the nearby driveway, got out of his car and went to the photographer to make sure that he was all right.

In fact, it was only after Mr. Reeves turned his car into and parked in the nearby driveway that he saw Mr. Da Silva fall down on the ground which certainly seems more likely to be posturing and feigning injury than the result of a low speed collision at 1 mph, slower than walking speed.

We highly apologize to Mr. Reeves.....