Police nab a Backstreet Boy Pop music star Nick Carter is handcuffed and ticketed for ignoring police instructions to shut up and get out of a Tampa nightclub. By AMY HERDY and MELIA BOWIE © St. Petersburg Times published January 4, 2002
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TAMPA -- To millions of fans, he's an international heartthrob. But to police early Wednesday, Nicholas Gene "Nick" Carter, of the Backstreet Boys singing group, was just another rowdy young man at closing time at a Tampa nightspot.
Police said they handcuffed Carter, 21, after he refused their 10th request to stop arguing with a woman and leave Pop City, a video arcade and nightclub on Channelside Drive in Tampa.
Once handcuffed, Carter became calm and cooperative, Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said. He was placed in the back of a police cruiser and was charged with resisting or opposing a law enforcement officer without violence, a misdemeanor. He was released a short time later with a notice to appear in court March 4.
The arresting officers had no idea who they had in custody until an onlooker told them, Durkin said.
"The officers don't care who he is," he said.
Thursday afternoon, it seemed everyone else did.
Durkin fielded calls from across the country and gave an on-camera interview for the Today show. Reporters pored over the arrest record, which included details teenage girls can recite by heart: "Complexion: fair. Build: med. Eyes: blue. Hair: blond."
Carter, who grew up in Ruskin, was with friends when someone with Carter got into a scuffle with someone else, said Pop City general manager Paul Bullard.
"There was no direct scuffle between Nick Carter (and anybody else)," Bullard said. "He never threw a punch."
As police tried to clear the club about 3 a.m., Carter got into an argument with a woman and refused repeated commands to leave, police said.
"I have done nothing wrong," Carter said in a statement released late Thursday through publicist Courtney Barnes. "I truly believe my celebrity motivated the officer to arrest me."
The officer "said my name aloud during the incident. I am certain that after a full investigation of the facts my name will be cleared," said Carter, who gave police a home address of Marathon, Fla.
If convicted, his sentence could range from probation to a year in jail. He might also be eligible for an intervention program that includes a fine, community service and probation, and that could result in the charge being wiped from his record.
Carter is one of five singers in the all-male pop group Backstreet Boys, who are wildly popular among their pre-teen and adolescent fans.
Bullard said Carter often stops by Pop City for the club's quarter beer nights on Tuesdays.
"He comes here a lot, and most people really don't care," he said. "They're not lining up for his autograph. He just comes and hangs out with his friends."
-- Times researcher John Martin, staff writer Tamara Lush and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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