A paparazzi photographer - who makes his living photographing Britney Spears, has quit in protest over aggressive" tactics employed in pursuing the troubled pop princess. British shutterbug Nick Stern resigned from the Los Angeles based, British owned Splash News and Picture Agency - and warned the hounding could kill her.
"Directly or indirectly, Britney is going to come to some horrific end, or a member of the public will," he told Britain's Guardian newspaper. "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."
Stern claims the biggest threat 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.
According to the Los Angeles Times newspaper, the trail of emergency vehicles that took Spears to the UCLA Medical Center stretched longer than a football field. In an operation conducted with military precision, police and medical crews spoke secretively of "delivering the package", in a failed attempt to throw the media pack off the scent.
"The paps are completely out of control," adds Stern, 43. "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."
The lengths pictures agencies, and indeed the their photographers will go to in order to get a good picture of Britney Spears is hardly surprising; US picture agency X17 recently claimed that a good picture of the pop wreck can fetch over $100,000. They claim her pictures account for 30 per cent of their total revenue.
Last year, the company made $2.5 million from Britney photos alone, including those infamous bald pictures of the her head-shaving session for $500,000.
Splash, meanwhile, say the singer accounts for 15 percent of their total business.
In total, the singer's pictures account for an astonishing 20 per cent of the paparzzi business.
Spears, 26, is currently being treated on the psychiatric ward at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
She reportedly arrived at the hospital at 2.15am but was not admitted until 4.15am because she was screaming and shouting at staff and her parents.
The fallen pop princess is said to have accused mum Lynne of sleeping with her boyfriend, although she never said exactly who she was referring to.
She reportedly yelled: "The only reason she's admitting me is because she wants to be alone with her boyfriend.
"She wants to sleep with my boyfriend."
Britney is understood to be on a three-day psychiatric hold, which could be extended to 14 days.
She is said to have told hospital staff she was on Adderall, a stimulant used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder.
By Owen Williams, Feb 01 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy
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