Nick Lachey was ordered to attend anger management classes and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings nearly a year after he accosted a photographer who was taking pictures from her car.
Veteran celebrity photographer Jody Santos told DailyMail.com that she is still waiting for an apology from the singer, but doesn’t think it will come anytime soon.
‘To this day, Nick has not taken any responsibility. He has justified it. He thought this was done, but it’s not done,’ Santos said in an exclusive interview.
A personal apology was declined, then a written apology was declined. No one from his team came up and asked, “Are you okay?”
According to documents obtained by DailyMail.com, Lachey, 49, was charged with assault and battery under California Penal Code 242. Santos said that after months of harassing the Beverly Hills Police Department, Lachey was ordered to complete 52 weeks of anger management classes and attending AA meetings.
Nick Lachey has been charged with assault and battery after accosting celebrity photographer Jody Santos in March 2022.
Santos, who has been in the paparazzi business for 18 years, recorded the singer approaching her car, reaching through the window and trying to snatch her phone.
Lachey, 49, was seen pranking paparazzi after he was photographed leaving Mastro’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills on March 27, 2022.
Santos said: “He had a lot of time to apologize, but instead he thought I would leave.” What he did was wrong. Trying to smash his fist through my car window when all I was doing was taking pictures of him. He should have been thanking me for the free publicity. Oh really. Talk about an oversized ego.
The incident occurred on March 27 of last year in Beverly Hills as Lachey was leaving dinner with his wife and Love Is Blind co-host Vanessa. He was furious after finding out he was being photographed by Santos, who was sitting in her car across the street.
The video shows the former 98 Degrees singer approaching Santos’ car, smashing through the window, trying to grab the phone from him and swearing profanity.
Santos told DailyMail.com that he is still waiting for an apology, but he doesn’t think it will come anytime soon.
“In all my years of photographing celebrities, no one has ever tried to hit me. I’m relieved I got my window up as fast as I did, otherwise I would have been knocked out. No doubt about that.’
Following the actor’s outburst, Santos filed a police report and complaint with the Beverly Hills police and after months of phone calls with the district attorney’s office, along with a lot of persistence, he got the result he wanted in February.
Under California law, prosecutors can offer defendants a “pre-filing diversion” that allows them to keep their criminal records clean if they meet certain requirements, such as anger management classes and AA meetings.
“He has to complete them in a reasonable amount of time, which is like a year or so,” Santos explained. ‘If you don’t, they will move forward to prosecute you for noncompliance and arrest you.
‘I kept calling the prosecutor’s office and told them I thought I was getting preferential treatment, so they finally called me back and said ‘No, you’re not getting preferential treatment’ and explained that they have a program with courts where you don’t let misdemeanors just pass, they have to attend anger management classes and AA’ meetings.
Santos, who has been in the paparazzi business for 18 years, explained how it is common practice to drive through Beverly Hills and take photos of celebrities leaving fancy restaurants.
On the night of the attack, Santos drove by the popular Mastro’s Steakhouse where he saw Lachey and his wife, former Miss Teen USA Vanessa Minillo, leaving.
He stopped across the street and started taking pictures. What happened next came as a complete shock to the photographer who captured the incident on camera.
Nick isn’t really on the radar. I just saw him and I thought he would have a shot of a couple leaving a restaurant. I took photos of it many times and never had any problems, but this time it was different,” Santos told DailyMail.com. “He made a face at me and then I heard Vanessa say, ‘Go find them, open the door’ and then she started walking towards my car all aggressive.”
I immediately closed the door and rolled up the window as fast as I could. He then starts banging on the window. I thought he was going to break his hand, from how hard he was hitting the glass. I’m surprised you didn’t break the window.
Santos filed a police report and complaint with the Beverly Hills Police Department and after months of phone calls with the district attorney’s office, along with a lot of persistence, he got the result he wanted in February.
Santos tells DailyMail.com that the singer was ordered to attend anger management classes and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for a year.
The 98 Degrees singer, unaware that his outburst was being recorded, can be heard yelling a large amount of profanity.
Santos then described how Lachey, who was married to Jessica Simpson for three years, walked away and that’s when she rolled down her window and asked him: “Why are you so mean to me, you used to be so nice? Why did you bang on my window? ?”
‘I thought he was leaving. I had no idea she was going to turn around and come back, but that’s what happened. And this time he called me an idiot, stuck his arm through my car window and tried to grab my cell phone. He couldn’t get it because he was strapped around my neck and I was trying to lean into the passenger side as best I could.
“I sure could smell the alcohol on his breath,” Santos said. “Then he asked me: ‘Do paparazzi still exist?’ and I said yes, that’s why I’m here, I’m a photographer”.
The next day, Lachey took to Twitter to justify his actions, writing: “Last night after enjoying a great dinner with my wife and our dear friend, we were harassed by paparazzi as we walked back to our hotel.” I clearly overreacted. I’ve been in this game long enough to know that his antics are unfortunately part of the deal. stupid of me Made.’
Lachey addressed the incident in a tweet, admitting he “overreacted” but claimed he was being “harassed.”
Santos was driving through Beverly Hills when he saw Nick and Vanessa leaving the popular Mastro’s Steakhouse.
Contrary to what he wrote on his Twitter, Santos told DailyMail.com that he was in no way harassing him. She never got out of her car, and another photographer on the scene also remained in her car.
“There were just two of us, two photographers and we were just doing our job. Basically, she was giving Nick free publicity with a possible story about a celebrity couple going out to dinner.
Lachey later defended his actions in a follow-up tweet, implying that he was the victim of clickbait narration and that it was “reckless” and “absolutely untrue” to say that he had been violent or physical during his altercation with the photographer.
“I want Nick to know that it’s not okay to go after a photographer, let alone a woman, and use obscene and sexist language.”
‘He needs to take responsibility for his actions. It is one thing to be violent with a woman and insult her, and another to blame the other person and lie about what really happened. He twisted the truth and blamed me.
“Nick won’t be too happy when he gets caught taking anger management classes,” Santos said. All of this could have been avoided if Nick had taken responsibility for his behavior. He is not above the law and as a father and a public figure, the least he can do is be a decent human being.”
The altercation with Santos is not the first time Lachey’s temper has gotten the better of him. He was ejected from an NFL game in San Diego in 2012 after getting into a shouting match with another fan.
DailyMail.com contacted Lachey’s representatives for comment but did not hear back.
