People and Events

It was the darned brakes, explained Rob Camilletti, Cher’s boyfriend. They locked on him. That’s why Cher’s Ferrari, which he was driving, skidded off the road and slammed into the car of a photographer in front of the Benedict Canyon home he shares with the noted singer-actress.

Camilletti, 23, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon (the Ferrari) after the run-in with free-lance photographer Peter Brandt, 35, who also accused the former New York bagel maker of smashing his camera.

At a Thursday press conference with Cher, Camilletti conceded that he slammed Brandt’s camera to the ground in a rage, but only after the latter dropped it in the scramble to get away with another photographer.

Brandt had been hanging around outside the house most of the day, Camilletti claimed. He said he only meant to swing past quickly to avoid being photographed. “After I realized that I had wrecked Cher’s car, I got furious,” he said.

As for the lady, 42, she told reporters that she has become “pretty much used to having my privacy destroyed . . . (but) these people have to realize I have a family. I’m pretty good about this, but I’m starting to get really, really angry.”

She said that Camilletti’s behavior was unlike him and that she can “sort of understand” all the problems photographers have had with Sean Penn.

Nor was life going smoothly for others in the entertainment world: The very short actor who once played Tattoo on the “Fantasy Island” television series says there are mushrooms growing out of the carpet in his Burbank home. But he is probably exaggerating.

Actually, says Herve Villechaize, the real problem is a redolence remaining from the time the plumbing backed up. He says he is withholding the $825-a-month rent until the landlord repairs damage to the carpeting, tile and floorboards.

The landlord, Joseph Tong, says he has tried repeatedly to do just that, but can’t because the 3-foot, 11-inch actor has refused to remove furniture, filing cabinets and other items blocking the work.

Tong filed suit in Burbank Municipal Court, seeking back rent and court costs. Judge Marion Gruber put the whole thing over to Aug. 24, suggesting that the two get together in the meantime and work it out.

One can’t be too careful, so the bomb squad was dispatched to the 18th floor of the Criminal Courts Building on Thursday morning when someone reported that a mysterious duffle bag had been left in the men’s room overnight.

“Chances are there’s nothing in there but dirty gym clothes,” said Schuyler Sprowles, spokesman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, whose office is not far from that men’s room.

Sprowles was right. A deputy prosecutor finally broke down and confessed that he forgot the bag late Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the Civic Center, things continued to be topsy-turvy:

The American flag was inverted outside the county Courthouse at 1st and Hill Streets. “Nobody’s perfect,” observed security guard Steve Fox. “It was put up at 5 a.m . . . Just human error.”

At 1st and Broadway, where the flag was upside down outside the State Office Building several days ago, a metal street sign mounted on a lightpost also was standing on its head Thursday. Nobody knew why.

Pizza man Luis Martin, 44, was not happy about being mugged by two young men as he emerged from a North Hollywood building where he had just made a delivery. Although one of the pair held a knife to his chest and demanded money, Martin managed to break away.

He tripped, however, and the robbers caught up with him. They took $150.

Police said the suspects grabbed somebody’s pickup truck and sped away. Martin jumped into his own car and followed them. Pursuer and the pursued paused at a stoplight, where Martin saw a police sergeant in a patrol car and called his attention to the matter.

Kenny Law, 23, and Geoff Mauk, 24, both of Los Angeles, were arrested.