police – The Denver Post

The security guard at the center of the Britney Spears/Victor Wembanyama slap incident will not be facing criminal charges after police determined Spears inadvertently “hit herself in the face” when her hand was pushed off the NBA star.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Friday their investigation into the incident did not find the security guard accused of slapping Spears to have willfully or unlawfully used force against her.

According to the report, police said surveillance footage of the event “showed Britney going to tap the Spurs player on the shoulder. When she touched the player, [Damian Smith, the Director of Team Security for the Spurs] pushes her hand off of the player without looking, which causes Britney’s hand to hit herself in the face.”

The incident occurred on Wednesday night after Spears spotted Wembanyama inside the ARIA Resort in Las Vegas. Spears and her team initially filed a police report, alleging Smith “backhanded” her when she tried to get Wembanyama’s attention by tapping him on the shoulder.

Wembanyama responded to the incident Thursday, claiming that a woman “grabbed [him] from behind,” which prompted security to push her away. He said he didn’t know until hours later that the woman in question was Spears because he hadn’t seen her face.

Spears took to social media later that day to refute Wembanyama’s claims.

“I decided to approach him and congratulate him on his success,” Spears shared to Twitter and Instagram. “It was really loud, so I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. I am aware of the player’s statement where he mentions ‘I grabbed him from behind’ but I simply tapped him on the shoulder. His security then backhanded me in the face without looking back, in front of a crowd.”

Cellphone footage obtained by TMZ appears to show that Spears did, indeed, attempt to tap Wembanyama on his shoulder — but did not grab him. The security guard is then seen swatting her hand away, causing her to smack herself in the face and her glasses to fall off.

Las Vegas police said Friday their investigation into the incident is now complete. No arrests have been made and no one has been cited..

With News Wire Services

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