Streisand Sued By Photographer

A freelance photographer has sued singer Barbra Streisand over his arrest earlier this year on suspicion of stalking her, accusing the performer of conspiring with authorities to have him unlawfully jailed in lieu of a staggering $1 million bail.

Streisand and her husband, actor James Brolin, responded by issuing a statement Wednesday denying they had ever "requested his incarceration."

Wendell Wall, 28, was arrested in January and spent three nights in jail in lieu of a $1 million bond before prosecutors dismissed the case on grounds there was a "lack of evidence of a credible threat."

Wall, who happens to live down the street from Streisand and Brolin in the posh oceanside community of Malibu, admitted then that he had photographed the couple while they were shopping for a car but denied stalking them.

In his suit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Wall alleges that his arrest was "committed with evil motive and intent and in callous, reckless and wanton disregard" of his civil rights. The suit names the singer, Brolin, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and several deputies as defendants.

All the defendants are accused of conspiring to have Wall arrested and keep him in jail by raising his bail from $150,000 to $1 million. The suit seeks a $25,000 civil penalty against each defendant plus unspecified punitive and general damages.

Wall was arrested Jan. 8 in Malibu by sheriff's deputies after Streisand and Brolin complained that he had been following them in his car. Wall said he was stopped without probable cause, harassed, removed from his car by force, detained, assaulted, falsely imprisoned and unlawfully arrested.

After Wall was taken to the sheriff's station, the suit says, a deputy entered his cell and said, "This is what you get when your father sues the police."

Wall's father, interior decorator Gene Wall, has told reporters his son's arrest was politically motivated because he and Streisand had had a falling-out over a decorating project. Streisand has denied the elder Wall ever worked for her.

Wall also claims Streisand and Brolin defamed him by telling deputies he had been stalking them, and that a sheriff's department official defamed him by repeating the allegation on national TV. The sheriff's department declined.

A spokesman for Streisand said the entertainer has not seen the suit but denies seeking to have Wall jailed.

"This is a man who pursued us with his camera unrelentingly for years. But in fact we never requested his incarceration."

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