Paparazzi arrested in West Hollywood incidents

The price of chasing Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and other nightclub-hopping celebrities got steeper overnight, at least for four paparazzi who were booked on charges arising from blocking sidewalks in West Hollywood.

The arrests, made early this morning and Tuesday night by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, continued local law enforcement efforts to crack down on aggressive paparazzi since Spears was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center last month. So many photographers, celebrity reporters and onlookers crowded the scene that patients and hospital staffers had troubling getting into the facility.

On Tuesday night, sheriff’s deputies booked two photographers – David Tonnessen, 31, and Christian Shostele, 37 – outside B2V Salon in West Hollywood, where Spears had made a stop. The arrests came shortly before 8 p.m. after paparazzi packed the sidewalk and entranceway and had been ordered by deputies to leave enough room for passersby.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said some members of the paparazzi, who numbered about 50, refused to heed requests. Deputies were first called about 6:20 p.m. and came to the scene requesting that photographers keep the area passable. They returned an hour later after similar complaints.

“They don’t disperse. They don’t listen to warnings,” Whitmore said, adding that once the arrests were made the others cleared out.

Then, about 1:30 a.m. this morning, two more photographers – Christopher Gonzalez, 21, and Vagn Rauch, 23 – were booked outside the West Hollywood nightclub Villa, again after they allegedly failed to keep a path clear for passersby and patrons. Deputies at that scene began warning photographers to disperse shortly after midnight. About two dozen members of the paparazzi had gathered there, apparently waiting for actress Lindsay Lohan to leave the club.

Shostele was booked on misdemeanor charges of blocking a public walkway, and the others were cited for municipal code violations, Whitmore said.

Two employees of the popular entertainment website TMZ.com were among those detained.

Harvey Levin, managing editor of TMZ.com called the detentions “bizarre.”

“We have been saying for months that law enforcement needs to arrest people but for really compromising public safety,” he said today. “There are photographers who are blowing red lights, chasing celebrities, running people off the road and threatening to kill people in order to get a shot. We’re all for a crackdown.”

Levin described the actions of photographers Tuesday night as something “every single news outlet in town has done for years.”

After everything else that has gone on in pursuit of valuable celebrity shots, he said, “it’s bizarre that after watching it all happen, the sheriff’s launching pad is photographers on a sidewalk.”

On video made available on celebrity websites, including hollywood.tv, sheriff’s deputies can be heard Tuesday night warning paparazzi: “You’ve got to leave a space on the sidewalk so people can walk by.”

The latest arrests came about a month after Los Angeles police arrested four men, all paparazzi, on suspicion of reckless driving in the San Fernando Valley as they followed Spears to her Studio City home. At least four others were also stopped by police but were not arrested.

Police alleged that at least one of the men following Spears, who was driving her car, tried to run her off the road.

richard.winton@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com