Image: Nick Carter, 35, is shown in this booking photo provided by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Key West, Florida January 14, 2016. REUTERS/Monroe County Sheriff’s Office/Handout via Reuters
By Barbara Liston
ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter was arrested and jailed in Key West, Florida, on a charge of battery after he punched a bouncer at a bar, police said on Thursday.
Carter, 35, got into the altercation Wednesday night after bartenders at the Hog’s Breath Saloon refused to serve alcohol to him and a companion and asked them to leave because they appeared to be “heavily intoxicated,” according to an arrest report.
Carter punched one of the bouncers and Michael Papayans of California head-butted the bar manager, the report said. Papayans, 27, was also charged with battery.
Police said a video of the altercation, plus physical evidence and witness statements, confirmed that Carter committed the battery.
Carter was released from jail on Thursday afternoon on $1,500 bond, a Monroe County jail officer said.
The pop singer rose to fame as a teenager in the mid-1990s as a member of the boy band, which formed in Florida in 1993. The
Backstreet Boys went on to sell more than 130 million albums worldwide and score hits including “I Want It That Way,” and “Shape of My Heart.”
Reuters was not able to establish whether Carter had named an attorney to represent him. Agents and managers for Carter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Andrew Hay)
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