Amanda Bynes in 2009

First I should mention that Dina Lohan did an interview with Entertainment Tonight as part of damage control for her drunken disastrous Dr. Phil appearance. There are so many gems in there, and Kaiser will be covering it separately as a full story. We’re just going to focus on what Dina Lohan said when asked about what kind of advice she would give to Amanda Bynes’ parents. She said that they should just “be around,” basically, since that worked so well at keeping Lindsay out of trouble. Then she added that “she’ll be ok.” Just like Lindsay, right? She’s fine! Here’s what Dina said:

On if she’s upset that Amanda hasn’t had any consequences yet
“You know, I’m a mother, and I feel that that’s for her mother to speak about, and not me, because people have spoken for my child and myself, so I really feel that’s for her parents to discuss and Amanda herself.”

Dina’s advice to Amanda’s parents
“Just be around. … It’s hard when your daughter’s not, you know, over 18, and you want to let them go … and they want to, you know, feel like they’re in control of themselves. So it’s a very strategic place for a parent to be, but she’ll be ok.”

[From ETOnline]

Dina’s “strategic place” to “be around” with Lindsay was out at the clubs, at the dermatologists getting their botox and fillers, and probably in some dingy bathrooms doing lines. I don’t want to speculate beyond that, although other things come to mind.

Getting back to Amanda Bynes, whose parents may have moved to California to keep an eye on her (reports vary as to whether they did it for her sake), she’s plead not guilty to the two counts of hit and run she was charged with. Also, we’ve heard that Amanda is now in New York, she moved there to start some kind of “fashion career,” so it’s not like her family can be around her there unless they fly out. Amanda’s lawyers entered this plea on her behalf since she’s on the east coast now. Amanda still has to face charges for DUI and two counts of driving on a suspended license. TMZ reports that she could get a year in jail on each count, although you know that’s not going to happen. This all sounds a hell of lot like Lindsay, except Amanda has gone silent and is trying to avoid the paparazzi. Plus we haven’t heard directly from any of Amanda’s family, except for a concerned uncle who spoke to Celebuzz. In that respect I think Amanda is ahead of Lindsay. I’m thinking Dina “being around” messed up Lindsay more than if she would have kept her distance.

Header image is from April, 2004 credit: Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos. Other photos are from earlier this month. credit: David Tonnessen, PacificCoastNews.com

Here’s a little break from the Emmy coverage to focus on a celebrity who obviously needs help. The last we heard about Amanda Bynes, she had gotten into a scuffle with a paparazzo who refused to delete a photo he had taken of her. She said to him “you have to delete the one of my face, I have to look beautiful.” A little later in the video posted on ETOnline, he accused Amanda of pinching and scratching him in an attempt to grab his camera. She denied doing either and just kind of left the scene. The photographer seemed to be harassing Amanda, and she actually sounded calm in comparison.

Amanda told People Magazine that she was going to move to New York to pursue a career in fashion, and she seems to have done just that. As you probably heard, her car was impounded last week after she was busted driving on a suspended license. On Friday, she was officially charged with two counts of driving on a suspended license. But – her license was supposedly suspended for failing to pay multiple traffic tickets, not in relation to her DUI and several hit and run incidents. I only hope that means that her violations are piling up, not that they’re more minor that we expected and that her hit and runs will be overlooked. This is LA, though, so it’s not like we can expect her to get a full six months in jail for each charge.

Anyway Amanda was spotted in NY, where she supposedly wandered around for “hours.” Maybe she was shopping and hanging out, and at least she’s not driving. Sources tell TMZ and Radar that she’s planning on making the move permanent. Here’s more:

bolted out of L.A. this weekend and thankfully headed to a city where public transportation is readily available … the Big Apple!

Witnesses who spotted Amanda in NYC tell TMZ … the actress was aimlessly wandering around Midtown for hours on Saturday.

But get this — Amanda is telling friends the reason she jetted off to New York is because she was tired of being followed in L.A. — something she says doesn’t happen in NYC.

Bynes now tells friends she NEVER wants to come back to L.A, which is interesting timing considering her parents JUST moved to CA from TX to be closer to their daughter.

TMZ broke the story … Amanda was slapped with two counts of driving on a suspended license on Friday. She faces up to six months in jail for each offense.

[From TMZ]

Radar and TMZ differ in how they report Amanda’s family situation. TMZ claims her family moved to LA to be closer to her and somehow help, even though that doesn’t seem to be happening. They say that Amanda refuses to talk to her parents and has been estranged from her family, including a brother and sister, for some time. Her friends are supposedly “furious” that her family is not doing more to help her. Radar agrees that Amanda and her family don’t talk, but reports that Amanda’s parent have lived in California for some time. In Radar’s version they didn’t move there specifically to be there for her. Whatever is going on, Amanda has headed to NY anyway so it’s not like she has any kind of support system to fall back on – that we know of.

In a way I’m glad that she’s no longer going to be hounded by the paparazzi in LA, they seem to be making the situation worse for her. In another it seems like she truly needs some help and that she’s just trying to avoid it. If her family isn’t helping her in LA, I get the sense they’re not going to even bother now that she’s on the east coast. Plus, it’s not like she’s going to accept any kind of help that isn’t forcible.

These photos are from 9-17-12 credit: WENN.com and from 6-4-12 credit: FameFlynet

Amanda in 2009

Do you remember when Britney Spears was losing it before her big head-shaving umbrella incident, and when she used to drive around aimlessly for hours and talk in a British accent? She had a weird symbiotic relationship with the paparazzi hoard that was following her, and she even dated a paparazzo for a while. (And there were inevitable sex tape stories, but I digress.) That’s what I’m reminded of when I see the video (at this link) of Amanda Bynes going off on a photographer. The guy is bugging the crap out of her and is super rude, as they are. Amanda tries to reason with him and asks him to delete a photo she thinks is unflattering. It’s hard to tell exactly what’s happening, but then she poses for him, a scuffle happens and she tries to grab his camera. At the end of the clip he accuses her of scratching his neck with those talon nails of hers. (I think they’re fierce actually, I would do that with my nails!) It bothered me to see, because it seems like she’s having mental issues when she talks about how she doesn’t like photos taken of her face. Maybe she’s just trying to control photos of herself and doesn’t want to get papped, though. You can see why she hates the paparazzi and hides from them when they act like this.

Anyway, here’s ET Online’s account of this video, which you can see on their site.

More trouble for Amanda Bynes… Only ET can show you exclusive footage of the embattled former teen star locked in a disturbing altercation with a paparazzo… Watch the video, then tune into ET tonight for the full story!

The struggle caught on tape began with Bynes walking down Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, shielding her face when she realized she was being photographed. Apparently the star didn’t like the way she looked, and tried to reason with the paparazzo and flatter him into deleting the pics, agreeing to pose for a new set. What happens next turns ugly, as it appears there’s a struggle over control of the camera.

The melee ends with the pap yelling that the star hurt him, with Bynes calmly saying, “I didn’t touch you.”
Bynes has become a paparazzi magnet ever since her car was impounded following a citation for driving on a suspended license – suspended after a series of fender benders and accused hit and runs in addition to a DUI charge for the star.

[From ET Online]

I don’t want to get into a whole chicken and egg scenario of where Amanda started having problems and when the paparazzi came in. The paparazzi don’t cause celebrities to have mental issues, but they flock to the ones that are having them like fleas on an old dog. This photographer’s behavior is unacceptable, and Amanda probably deals with that crap now whenever she leaves the house. It makes me feel for her actually. That and the fact that she’s not trying to say anything publicly about how Lindsay Lohan is a hypocrite degenerate who should never utter her name.

As for how Amanda is doing otherwise, we’ve heard plenty of stories about her acting bizarrely, most recently in a spinning class when she stripped down to a bra and applied makeup in front of everyone. TMZ reports that Amanda’s entire management team – her agent, publicist, and entertainment lawyer – have all dropped her as a client. They claim “According to one source, all 3 members of the team made multiple efforts to help Amanda before she went radio silent — but Bynes was not receptive. Eventually, the team decided to cut bait … acknowledging they can’t help someone that doesn’t want to be helped.” Apparently Amanda wants to go into fashion and considers herself retired from acting, which is what she told People yesterday. Well, at least her parents are around her now, allegedly.

If you have some time to kill and would like to go over a dated list of Amanda’s legal problems and terribly driving record, MTV has compiled a very good timeline. They didn’t even include this latest scuffle, which happened after the published. Also, we heard a while ago that she was supposed to personally appear in court today, but I don’t know if that’s still happening as her lawyer was just there on her behalf on Wednesday.

Photo credit: WENN.com

This photo is from 2009. Credit: FameFlynet

Amanda Bynes called People Magazine recently to set the record straight. (Read: deny everything while trying to act like nothing happened.) Unlike Lindsay Lohan, she’s no longer tweeting constantly, which can make her seem much saner than her actions belie. To People, Amanda claimed she was doing “amazing,” that she is switching into a career in fashion, and that she’s moving to New York. Here’s what she said, and she repeated the old “I don’t drink and drive” claim that she wanted Obama to use as evidence from which to fire her arresting officer.

“I am retired as an actor. I am moving to New York to launch my career. I am going to do a fashion line,” added Bynes, who was polite, respectful and upbeat on the phone. “I am not talking about being arrested for DUI because I don’t drink, and I don’t drink and drive. It is all false.”

The rest of People’s article went on to recount an incident in which Amanda stripped down to a regular non-sports bra during a spinning class at the gym, ignored the workout, and proceeded to apply makeup and fix her hair, leaving 10 minutes later as if nothing happened. Their source called her a “mess.”

TMZ confirmed that spin class story with some more details, or they just cribbed it from People, it’s hard to tell.

TMZ reported yesterday that Amanda’s parents have leased their home in Texas and moved to California to keep an eye on their daughter. As of now, they’re not considering a conservatorship. Amanda’s uncle previously told Celebuzz that Amanda dad hasn’t talked to her in some time and will change the subject if someone tries to talk about her. It is thought that Amanda wasn’t in touch with her parents.

The judge in Amanda’s DUI case (She previously had same judge as Lindsay Lohan, a female judge named Judge Revel, but TMZ used the male pronoun so she may have a different judge at this point), has stated in court that if Amanda drives on her suspended license and breaks any road rules there will be a high bail set for her. Amanda’s lawyer was in court on her behalf on Wednesday, and she didn’t attend. We’ve heard that she’s been ordered to personally appear on Friday, but we’ll see if that happens.

Meanwhile do you remember how Lindsay Lohan got all indignant that nothing has happened to Amanda Bynes yet, even though Bynes has yet to appear in court to face charges? Well now that The Cracken got arrested for a pedestrian hit and run, Bynes allegedly thinks it’s “karma” and that Lindsay is “not cool.” If you ignore the high potential for each of these women to cause vehicular homicide, and the possibility that one or both of them is mentally ill, this is a pretty amusing celebrity feud.

Amanda is shown shopping on 9-17-12, when she locked herself in the dressing room for 2 hours. The guy with the Black Flag t-shirt worked at the store, I saw him on The Insider. Credit: WENN.com

The Amanda Bynes saga rages on, and yet – Amanda hasn’t said a word (directly). Many of you commented on our story yesterday that unlike Lindsay Lohan, who was calling out Amanda for a lack of consequences (before she’s even entered the justice system), Amanda is keeping her mouth shut. Bynes deleted all her tweets after she begged Obama in June to get the officer who arrested her for DUI fired. She hasn’t tweeted since that I can find, and instead of raging to anyone who will listen (like The Cracken), she’s just acting very erratic and then denying off the record to TMZ that she has a problem. (Or maybe TMZ is going by her lack of response to paparazzi.) So in that respect she’s ahead of Lindsay despite the many other obvious similarities.

Yesterday we heard that Amanda’s neighbors and the people who see her at the gym regularly are concerned for her mental health. She’s been seen talking to herself and laughing at nothing, so unless she’s on the phone or watching funny cat videos it’s safe to assume she’s having issues. (Some of you speculated she’s having mental health problems and is self-medicating with pot and other drugs. Other people think she’s on drugs – prescription or otherwise – and is showing the effects. I don’t mean to sound so callous but I think it’s a chicken and egg situation.) Whatever is going on with her, it’s ongoing. A new report on TMZ claims she was in a dressing room at a boutique shop for an hour and forty five minutes. The shop clerk said that Amanda would bang on the wall about every ten minutes, and when they asked her if she was ok she would say she needed more time. Oh no. She bought a few things, and the good news is that she called a cab to pick her up. (Her car was impounded so she likely had no choice.) Here’s that story:

Amanda Bynes went shopping today in West Hollywood … and locked herself in a dressing room for nearly 2 hours.

Amanda was shopping at Kin (above) — a hip boutique. Amanda took some clothes inside the fitting room and stayed for 1 hr. 45 min.

The clerks heard a banging sound coming from inside the dressing room every 10 minutes or so. One clerk made a distress call to another employee, saying he was concerned about Bynes being hold up for so long. The employee drove to the store to help, to no avail. Amanda wouldn’t come out, telling them, “I need more time.”
Amanda finally came out at around 5:30 PM, went to the register and bought a pair of stilettos, a pair of sunglasses and a few other things.

Now get this … as Amanda walked out she noticed she had tried on a bathing suit top that was underneath her dress and told the clerk she forgot it was on. Amanda then paid for the suit.

Amanda saw a few photogs before leaving and then asked the clerk to call her a cab. It’s unclear how she arrived at the store.

[From TMZ]

I’m hoping that Amanda stayed in the dressing room because she wanted the damn paps to leave and was trying to wait them out. It’s incredibly strange and suspicious that she did that regardless, don’t get me wrong, but maybe she was doing it for a reason. In the video on TMZ of her leaving the store, the photographer calls her by name and asks her if she was ok and then says “do you think that you should be under a conservatorship, do you think that might be the next step to take?” It’s possible she was just hiding out in there hoping they’d lose interest, because they obviously harass her. (Again, not that she should be able to drive around aimlessly, get high and hit things, but there’s a difference.)

Amanda is set to appear in court on Friday on her DUI and two hit and run charges, according to E! Online. E! also corroborates TMZ’s story that Amanda’s neighbors are concerned for her. They quote a neighbor who says “Her house has become dilapidated. It used to be beautiful but she’s let it go to ruin… She used to leave the house every day to walk her dog, but she has not done that for a couple of months…When she was walking the dog, she would always wear the same clothes, she would put her headphones in, and she would always walk over the other side of the street so she didn’t have to talk to anyone.” The neighbor also said that Amanda’s driving is a concern.

TMZ has a follow-up that Amanda will not be going into rehab, and that she feels she doesn’t need a conservatorship. Given the exchange we just heard between Amanda and the paparazzo, it’s hard to tell whether TMZ is just jumping to conclusions or whether they have an inside source. I’m starting to think that Amanda doesn’t talk to anyone. Celebuzz had an interview with Amanda’s uncle, Richard Bynes, who claimed that Amanda’s father “doesn’t want to talk about her and often changes the subject,” and that Amanda is not in touch with her parents. He added “I don’t even think they know what’s going on with her.” Amanda’s uncle Bynes does think that “she needs help.” No kidding. I’m worried about her now.

These photos are from 6-5-11, the last event Amanda went to. Her mug shot is also shown. It’s hard to find new photos of her because she often hides from the paparazzi. Credit: WENN.com

For all of us waiting for some kind of justice to come to Amanda Bynes after a DUI, several hit and runs, getting pulled over while driving with a suspended license and getting stoned in her car, something has finally happened yesterday! Cops pulled Amanda over and they ran her license this time, which lead to her car being impounded. You know she’ll find another way to drive, but for now she’ll have to cab it or get a driver. I only hope the paparazzi are the ones who called the cops and that they’re keeping an eye on her. They need to be useful somehow. Here’s the story from TMZ:

Amanda Bynes’ suspended license finally caught up with her today — TMZ has learned she was pulled over by police and had her car impounded.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … Bynes was pulled over in her black BMW around 9:00 AM in Burbank, CA. We’re told when cops ran her license they discovered it was suspended.

According to our sources, cops impounded the vehicle and issued her a misdemeanor ticket for driving on a suspended license.

As TMZ first reported, Bynes was pulled over on September 9 — but despite having the suspended license, she was given only a verbal warning and let go.

[From TMZ]

TMZ has the photos of Amanda’s car getting pulled over and her car being taken away. You can’t see her face because she’s pulled a jacket over her head, and her legs look incredible in some jeggings. We know that Amanda has been hitting the gym in between getting baked and driving around aimlessly. Several sources fom Amanda’s gym told TMZ that she’s in there a lot and that she often talks to herself. Her neighbors think she’s having serious problems too. Uh oh:

Several people from her gym — Equinox in West Hollywood – tell us, she has been showing increasingly alarming signs of delusional behavior. One person says Amanda came to the gym Thursday looking dazed and began speaking with herself — making comments and then answering back.

Another person says when Amanda was on the elliptical, she would stop suddenly and start “laughing hysterically for no reason.” She did this periodically throughout her workout. This person says he’s seen her dozens of times in the last few months, and says it’s apparent her condition is “deteriorating.”

Several of Amanda’s neighbors echo the concern over Amanda’s condition. One tells us he observed her on several occasions having long conversations with inanimate objects. Another person says people in her condo complex are aware of her condition and her conduct but haven’t called her friends or relatives or authorities because they just don’t want to get involved, given her profile.

Some of the people in the building have been upset over the last few weeks, because they believe the media is painting Amanda as a garden variety pothead and they say her problems are much deeper.

[From TMZ]

If this is true, I hope that someone will step in and make sure she gets the help she needs to be stabilized. It sounds like she’s having serious problems and is deep in denial. TMZ has a follow-up story on this from a source close to Amanda (read: Amanda) who insists she’s just fine and everything is being “blown out of proportion.” The source also insists that she was only smoking tobacco out of that special pipe designed to look like a car cigarette lighter.

Meanwhile the Cracken has chimed in on this, because she faced the ultimate sentence of a full 14 days in her own segregated jail cell for a DUI, a high speed car chase involving unwilling passengers, missing scheduled hearings, failing court-ordered drug tests, and failing multiple times to complete her court-ordered education and community service. (Not in that order, but it’s impossible to recap her legal problems without writing a treatise.) Lindsay tweeted “Why did I get put in jail and a nickelodeon star has had NO punishment(s) so far?” Maybe because you had a LOT more chances, particularly after the legal system got involved, you stupid cow. Look at that, Lindsay Lohan just made me defend Amanda Bynes. Lindsay’s just pissed that Amanda is getting more press than her.

Photos are from April outside the police station after her DUI and earlier this month. Credit: FameFlynet and PCNPhotos

We’ve seen Amanda Bynes driving on a suspended license twice – there are photos of her getting pulled over by cops for driving without her headlights on, (nothing happened to her then of course) and TMZ recently published a series of photos in which we saw Amanda driving around, parking and getting high in her car. She got high twice that day according to the paparazzo who tailed her, and TMZ had photos of the inside of her car, which was a mess of fast food wrappers and pot residue. (Is that what you call it? I’m so old.) So now we know how she got into so many hit and runs in the first place – she was baked, hit other car(s), barely noticed, and then was too high to stop and conduct herself so she figured she may as well keep driving. She could have been drunk too, I don’t know.

Anyway Amanda’s license was suspended over a week ago, and now she might actually stop driving because a judge told her lawyer that she had to! Do you think that’s going to stop this bitch? You know it isn’t. Amanda wasn’t even at the hearing. You know her lawyer called her and she told him “sure, whatever” in between tokes. And then she drove to In-N-Out burger and satisfied her munchies. (That conjecture, although all I’m going by her past behavior. I don’t even know if she eats meat.)

Amanda Bynes has officially been asked to put away her car keys.

The starlet, 26, was ordered by L.A. Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel not to drive without a valid driver’s license, PEOPLE confirms.

Bynes lost her driving privileges while facing a DUI charge and two counts of hit-and-run, according to the Los Angeles Tmes.

On Sunday, the former child star was stopped by police officers in L.A. when her headlights weren’t on, but she was not asked to show her license, according to the Times, noting that police are not required to ask for a license in all instances.i

At a hearing Wednesday before Revel – who had presided over some of Lindsay Lohan’s legal problems – the District Attorney’s Office asked the judge to address the issue of Bynes’s driver’s license.

Bynes’s attorney Bob Wilson – who appeared on behalf of the actress, who didn’t attend – initially told the judge: “We haven’t completed her DMV hearing so she couldn’t have lost her license,” E! News

But later Wilson said the D.A. informed him that the actress’s license does in fact come up as suspended in the official records.

Sunday wasn’t apparently the only day she was on the road. TMZ posted photos of Bynes “driving for hours” and smoking out of some sort of pipe on Tuesday.

Bynes’s rep did not respond to requests for comment.

[From People]

I love how People phrases their article so carefully, “smoking out of some sort of pipe.” Plus her lawyer is such an enabler! He’s all “she couldn’t have lost her license” even though it’s suspended.

Radar has another story about how Amanda has been refusing rehab, hasn’t been talking to her family or manager, and is a “lost little girl.” It looks to me like she knows exactly what she’s doing. They quote a source who says:

“Amanda is refusing to go to rehab or seek any form of psychiatric treatment or diagnosis, because it’s clear something is up with her. She has been told by her agent and her dad Rick that she has substance abuse issues and needs to get help. She’s a lost little girl right now.” They add that she has “completely gone off the grid. She won’t speak with her manager, her agent, her publicist; she’s not returning anybody’s phone call.”

Their source thinks Amanda has mental health issues and “doesn’t seem to be in touch with reality.” With all due respect to pot smokers, doesn’t that happen when you’re high all day? I have nothing against a recreational toke when you’re not driving, but it looks like she’s pretty much driving around aimlessly all day and getting baked.

Update: We have our answer, and it’s just as suspected. No, Amanda will never stop driving. She just “tapped” the bumper of another car last night, while driving illegally AFTER the judge told her lawyer very firmly that his client has lost her privileges to drive. I hope the judge takes this all into account, if it’s admissible, when she’s finally brought to justice for her DUI. She’s the second coming of Lohan, so I guess we already know what’s going to happen.

Another day, another story about Amanda Bynes not getting in trouble while endangering countless lives. TMZ has photos from a photographer who followed Amanda all day as she drove around on a suspended license. The last time we saw Amanda driving (also with a suspended license), she was being pulled over by cops for driving without her headlights on at night. TMZ had photos of that too, and Amanda got off with a warning and obviously did NOT consider it a wakeup call. A DUI, several hit and run incidents and a suspended license weren’t a wakeup call for her, so why would she behave any differently after getting pulled over and let off? So Amanda was driving illegally and what did she do – she got some takeout, got high, went to a spa, went to Home Depot, then got high again. Maybe she’s telling the truth that she hasn’t been drinking and driving, she’s been toking and driving. Here’s the story. TMZ also has a whole series of photos documenting Amanda’s day:

Amanda Bynes was driving aimlessly for hours Tuesday … while smoking out of what appears to be a marijuana pipe and tooling around L.A. on a suspended license.

The photos — obtained by TMZ — show Bynes taking multiple hits out of a pipe that is designed to look like a cigarette lighter in your car. In one shot, you see what appears to be remnants of marijuana in a cup holder. Some of the nugs appear burnt — as if they had already been smoked.

The car is a mess. Trash is strewn everywhere. There are stains on the seat, empty bottles, dog hair and various other items.

Amanda started her journey at Baja Fresh in the San Fernando Valley, where she smoked from the pipe in the restaurant parking lot and ate tacos. She then went to a spa, where she spent 3 hours. We’re told Amanda then drove without purpose for several hours, sometimes cutting off other drivers and violating various traffic laws. Amanda ended up at Home Depot, where she again took a hit from the pipe in the parking lot.

TMZ has confirmed … Amanda is driving illegally, because the DMV suspended her license on August 25. As for why her license was yanked, we believe it’s because she refused to take a sobriety test when she was busted for DUI in April. In California, such refusal results in automatic license suspension.

TMZ broke the story … Amanda has been charged with 2 hit-and-runs and various drivers have complained that she has either hit them as well or created peril.

[From TMZ]

Fingers crossed that the cops pull her over and make her face immediate consequences before she hurts someone. I’m also hoping that the judge in Amanda’s DUI case sees these photos. She’s surely been driving stoned for months now considering all the accidents she’s been getting into. What is it going to take for her to stop? I don’t even want to know the answer to that.

Amanda is shown at the MTV Movie Awards on 5-6-11 and outside the Chateau Marmont on 4-12-12. Credit: WENN and Pacific Coast News

Amanda Bynes was pulled over by cops on Sunday for driving without her headlights on. There were paparazzi there to catch this fine moment on film and TMZ has the video. The officers let her off with a warning. They must not have bothered to run her license or they would have seen that she doesn’t have one. Amanda’s license was suspended in connection with two hit and runs she had after she received a DUI. This is progress for the LA justice system, but it’s not without its flaws. She’s now driving on a suspended license. Of course she is. And of course she didn’t even get a slap on the wrist this time. Here’s the story from TMZ:

Amanda Bynes was pulled over in L.A. last night after her driver’s license was suspended — but somehow, she didn’t end up in jail.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, Bynes was pulled over for driving without her headlights on. We’re told she was given a verbal warning and sent on her way.

It’s unclear if officers ran the actress’ license — because if they did, they might have noticed it was reportedly SUSPENDED last week after the actress was slapped with two misdemeanor hit-and-run charges. She also refused to take a breathalyzer after being busted for DUI, and that triggers an automatic 1-year license suspension.

It’s unclear if the license has since been reinstated — but with such a short time frame, it’s VERY unlikely.

Calls to Bynes’ camp were not returned.

[From TMZ]

This girl lives deep in denial “move that cone” land, so of course she will continue to drive. I just hope she gets busted again before she does some serious damage. Paris Hilton got some hard time for driving on a suspended license, but I know it’s not realistic to expect the same for Bynes. She’s too much like Lohan – inexplicably slippery when it comes to facing consequences. Those two make Paris look mature.

Here are photos of Amanda hiding – while parked in a Handicapped space, on 9-2-12. Credit: David Tonnessen, PacificCoastNews.com. Photo of her texting and driving was after a night out partying on 4-12-12 – less than a week after her DUI. She’s shown outside the police station on 4-6-12. Credit: FameFlynet.

Finally, some progress in Amanda Bynes’ case. Amanda has been compared to Lindsay Lohan (which she of course doesn’t take favorably to) in that she’s earned a DUI, she’s continually denied responsibility and claimed to be sober, and she’s been involved in a string of car accidents since. Given our collective impression of the California legal system, which has been very lenient on Lindsay Lohan (but not Paris Hilton arguably, why was that?), none of us expected Bynes to get more than a slap on the wrist. That may change – possibly – now that she’s being charged with two counts of hit and run for two separate incidents in which she hit other cars and fled the scene. Of course she’s still driving at this point, so I would be satisfied if she got her license taken away. (Not that it would stop her from driving.) Here’s more, from TMZ:

Amanda Bynes has been charged with TWO counts of hit-and-run — after allegedly smashing into some car and fleeing the scene … twice.

If convicted on both counts, she faces up to a year in jail.

We broke the story … prosecutors recently reopened Bynes’ hit-and-run case from back in April because the actress was accused of yet another hit-and-run last month.

Now, the L.A. City Attorney has taken the next step — charging Bynes with two counts of misdemeanor hit-and-run, stemming from the two incidents.

As for the second alleged incident, we’re told the “smoking gun” for detectives was that the damage to the victim’s car matched the damage to Amanda’s.

She’s due in court September 27th.

Calls to Bynes’ reps weren’t immediately returned.

[From TMZ]

Driving is a privilege that you earn, not a right. Maybe they’ll take her license away, but I doubt she’ll face steeper consequences. And then maybe she’ll be busted driving on a suspended license, have to go before the same judge as Paris Hilton, and get sentenced to a month solid in jail, no take-backs, like Paris. Here’s hoping. By the way, that worked for Paris (sort-of) didn’t it? Wait, she got arrested for cocaine possession after that, so baby steps.

Update: Amanda’s driver’s license has been suspended by the DMV as a result of being charged with 2 counts of misdemeanor hit and run. Yay! Also, thanks for pointing out that she’s parked in a handicapped space in these photos of her with the scarf over her head. Of course she is.

This is Amanda thinking she’s invisible on 9-2-12. Credit: David Tonnessen, PacificCoastNews.com. She’s also shown texting and driving after a night out partying on 4-12-12. That was less than a week after her DUI. She’s shown outside the police station on 4-6-12. Credit: FameFlynet. Event photo from 5-6-11. Credit: WENN.com