Backstreet Boy Nick Carter Had All Charges Dropped From The Fight On Jan 2nd

TAMPA -- Millions of teenage girls can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Heartthrob Nicholas Gene "Nick" Carter, the smash singer of the all-male pop group Backstreet Boys, won't become a convicted criminal.

Carter agreed to enter a pretrial intervention program that will allow him to avoid jail and any criminal record for getting into a spat with a Tampa police officer at a nightclub last month.

"He is a first-time offender, and we treated him just like anyone else," Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said Friday.

Police handcuffed Carter, 22, on Jan. 2, saying he refused to stop arguing with a woman and leave Pop City, a video arcade and nightclub on Channelside Drive in downtown Tampa.

As the club was closing about 3 a.m., police ordered Carter 10 times to leave but he wouldn't, authorities said. Police did not say what Carter and the unidentified woman were arguing about.

Carter only calmed down when an officer handcuffed him and put him in the back of a police car, police said.

At the time, Carter, who grew up in Ruskin and often hangs out at Pop City, said he had "done nothing wrong."

"I truly believe my celebrity motivated the officer to arrest me," he said in a statement released soon after his arrest.

Police, however, said they didn't know who Carter was. The same police officers approved the pretrial intervention deal, Bondi said.

Carter was charged with resisting or opposing a law enforcement officer without violence, a misdemeanor. If convicted, the internationally known sex symbol could have faced a year in jail and probation.

But rather than go to trial and risk a criminal record, Carter agreed to enter a pretrial intervention program, which is similar to probation. He will pay a fine, perform community service and serve a period of probation.

Bondi didn't know Friday how long it would take for Carter to complete the program. She also didn't know the size of the fine or the number of hours of community service Carter will complete.

The State Attorney's Office often offers first-time offenders the chance to keep their records clean by completing pretrial programs. If Carter finishes the program, prosecutors will drop the charges.

"He made a stupid decision that night," Bondi said.

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