Nick Lachey has reportedly been ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
According to court documents obtained by Page Six, the 98 Degrees member has been ordered to attend anger management and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for accosting paparazzo Jody Santos in March last year.
The television personality was allegedly charged with assault and battery against the photographer in March 2022 but did not receive formal punishment until Santos pushed the Beverly Hills Police Department for months.
“Mr Lachey has not been charged with misdemeanour assault and battery. Instead he is participating in LADA’s Prefiling Diversion program, which was established in 2017,” a representative for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office told the outlet in a Tuesday statement. “As part of these conditions he must participate in anger management classes and attend Alcoholic Anonymous meetings. Successful completion of the Prefiling Diversion Program will result in no criminal charges being filed.”
On 27 March last year, Lachey spotted Santos taking photos of him and his wife Vanessa Lachey leaving Mastro’s restaurant in Beverly Hills. He allegedly tried to grab Santos’s camera and phone through the passenger window.
Later, the paparazzo told Daily Mail she tried to roll up the window “as fast” as she “could”, adding, “In all my years of photographing celebrities, no one has ever tried to hit me.”
Santos insisted she had “no doubt” Lachey would have “knocked” her out if she hadn’t raised the window in time.
“He then started punching the window. I thought he was going to break his hand; that’s how hard he was hitting the glass,” she recalled. “I am surprised he didn’t shatter the window.”
