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The traffic stop of an Army Lieutenant has now become a criminal investigation ... this according to the Lt.'s attorney.

Attorney Jonathan Arthur said on "TMZ Live" Monday ... he had been contacted by either the feds, state prosecutors or both regarding the December incident. He would not say which agency or agencies contacted him, but he did say a criminal investigation is afoot.

The feds could file criminal civil rights violations ... similar to what happened in the Rodney King case years ago. There could also be a state investigation over excessive force. As we reported, Lt. Caron Nazario was pepper-sprayed 4 times as officers barked orders at him.

Arthur filed a civil lawsuit earlier this month, and the video of the incident surfaced this weekend.

Attorney Arthur says the officers' conduct was egregious ... allegedly lying on the police report and also apparently telling Nazario if he doesn't complain they won't destroy his military career.

Ellen DeGeneres made quick work of the Beverly Hills home she just put on the market ... but she didn't cash in quite like she probably hoped.

The talk show host unloaded the massive, secluded property she bought just 2 years ago from Maroon 5 frontman, Adam Levine, for a whopping $47 million ... but she was asking for way more than that.

As we first told you ... Ellen listed the 10,000 square-foot mansion for $53.5 mil just over a month ago, which would have netted her a decent profit because she and her wife, Portia de Rossi, purchased it from Adam for about $45 mil.

Instead, it's more like a break-even transaction ... but we're told DeGeneres went ahead with it anyway because she spends very little time in L.A. outside of shooting her show. She's now living full-time up in Montecito.

As for the new buyer -- represented by Brian Lane & Bob Safai of Madison Residential -- they just scored a gorgeous, ivy-covered estate with a resort-style pool, outdoor kitchen and pizza oven, fire pit, dining room bar, 50-foot living room with stone fireplace, indoor gym, spa and a guest house.

There's also a sunken tennis court, as the home used to also be owned by tennis legend Pete Sampras.

Here's something to make ya feel old ... Macaulay Culkin is now a proud parent!!!

Macaulay, best known as Kevin McAllister in the insanely popular 1990s 'Home Alone' movies, just announced the birth of his first child with his partner, actress Brenda Song.

Macaulay and Brenda welcomed their son, Dakota Song Culkin, into the world last Monday in Los Angeles. A rep for the couple says he was named after Culkin's sister who passed away in 2008.

The baby boy is healthy after weighing in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces.

It's pretty jarring to think of Macaulay as a father and not as little Kevin ... entire generations have grown up knowing MC only from his classic Christmas movies, and the Google holiday ads reprising his iconic role.

In fact, filming wrapped on the OG 'Home Alone' a few months before Macaulay's 10th birthday, and he was 11 years old when he played Kevin in the 1992 sequel.

Now, he's a first-time father at 40 ... and with baby Dakota joining the fold, Macaulay and Brenda will no longer be home alone. Also, their sleep will most likely suffer.

Luke Bryan's going to miss out on the excitement of "American Idol" going live for the first time this season due to the coronavirus ... but a familiar face will take his place.

The country music star and 'Idol' judge says he tested positive for COVID-19, so he won't be part of Monday night's first live show of the reality singing competition.

Luke says he's doing well and hopes to be back at it soon, but in the meantime ... Paula Abdul is back!!!

The show just announced while Bryan's quarantining and recovering at home, the former judge will be filling in as guest judge alongside Katy Perry and Lionel Richie.

It's unclear how long she'll have to hold down the fort in Luke's chair, but as you know ... she has a lot of experience. Paula joined the series in 2002 as one of 3 judges with Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson, and had numerous memorable clashes with Simon.

The four-legged friend of the U.S. Army Lieutenant who was repeatedly pepper-sprayed by a cop is feeling better after choking on pepper spray and struggling to breathe.

Lt. Caron Nazario's attorney, Jonathan Arthur, tells TMZ ... Nazario's pooch, Smoke, is OK after the scary incident, despite feeling the effects of the toxic chemical.

As you know, Nazario was pulled over in Virginia, pepper-sprayed and attacked ... all over the fact he didn't have a rear license plate. Smoke was in the backseat of the SUV during the incident, and one of the cops fired pepper spray at the Lt. four separate times.

The Lt. told the cops the dog was in distress, but they did not come to his aid.

The dog, who was in a kennel in the back of the SUV, eventually shook off the toxins. He did not need to see a vet.

The woman caught on video pointing a gun out of her car window, then firing it out of her sunroof at a busy L.A. intersection has been charged with 3 felonies ... and she's still sitting in jail.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ ... Ashley Tamika Greenwade's been hit with one count of assault with a firearm for the April 6 incident, along with one count of discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and one count of having a concealed firearm in a vehicle that's not registered to her.

We're told the first charge is due to Greenwade allegedly aiming her weapon at a person from her vehicle before she fired it up in the air.

Greenwade is still in police custody. She's being held on $35,000 bail ... and is facing up to 4 years behind bars.

As we reported ... the surreal road rage scene went down last week. The suspect was recorded screaming at someone off-camera before whipping out a handgun and loading it.

As she pointed it, she asked .... "Anybody wanna die now? Anybody???" Then, she unloaded several shots straight up through her sunroof.

The police officer who pepper-sprayed a Black Army lieutenant in December has since lost his job over the altercation -- this as a lawsuit against the cop makes its way through court.

The town of Windsor, VA broke the news Sunday, saying Officer Gutierrez had since been terminated after an investigation following the incident late last year ... which determined he did not follow department policy during the hectic traffic stop.

Sounds like Gutierrez -- who later suggested Lt. Caron Nazario "let this go" to avoid punishment from the Army, and awkwardly brought up race relations -- was actually cut loose a good while ago. Windsor officials say new training was implemented back in January after their preliminary probe into this wrapped.

It's unclear if the other officer who was on the scene is still on the force or not.

The Town of Windsor's leaders promises to continue being transparent about the case -- adding that they have complied with Lt. Nazario's requests as litigation has already gotten underway, and the videos have leaked.

Referring to the case, the town leaders also say, "[W]e are saddened for events like this to cast our community in a negative light. Rather than deflect criticism, we have addressed these matters with our personnel administratively, we are reaching out to community stakeholders to encourage dialogue, and commit ourselves to additional discussions in the future."

"The Sopranos" actor Joseph Siravo, the actor who played Tony Soprano’s father in several flash-back scenes, has died.

Siravo succumbed to cancer after a long fight with the disease. One of his co-stars, Garry Pastore, broke the news ... “RIP my dear friend, who fought an incredible fight. I will miss you. See you on the other side.” The actor Kelli O’Hara also honored Siravo, noting on Twitter that “the stage and screen and I will miss you.”

Siravo was an accomplished actor with numerous credits, but the fan-favorite was clearly Johnny Boy on "The Sopranos." He appeared in dream scenes in 5 of the episodes.

He also starred in FX's "The People v. OJ Simpson:  American Crime Story" -- he played Fred Goldman, Ron's father.

Joe's credits include "For Life," "New Amsterdam," "Blue Bloods," "Third Watch," "Law & Order" and many others.

He also appeared in numerous movies, including "Maid in Manhattan," "Shark Tale" and "Motherless in Brooklyn."

Joe's 'Sopranos' co-star, Michael Imperioli, said, "His performance [as] Johnny Boy Soprano was spot on and he also made a perfect John Gotti in Nick Sandow's "The Wannabe. In my opinion, he was the best of all the actors who've played the Teflon Don."

Joe is survived by his daughter, son-in-law, sister and 2 brothers.

Joe was 66.

Grimes might not be of this planet ... that's one possible theory after dissecting her massive new back tattoo, which she describes as "beautiful alien scars."

The Canadian musician unveiled her body art Sunday, a painful-looking assortment of tangled lines that at first glance ... make you think her tattoo artist was just a little high.

Instead, Grimes says it was planned this way from the get-go... with white ink and some help from the "alien computer brain" of another designer.

She says this is the best photo she has so far because "it hurts too much and I need to sleep," adding ... "it’ll be red for a few wks , but gna be beautiful alien scars."

It's all right on brand for Elon Musk's partner and mother to their child, whom they initially named X Æ A-12 Musk ... Grimes explaining the X stood for "the unknown variable."

They later had to change the A-12 to A-Xii due to California law not allowing numbers, but were still able to keep the theme of their son's name ... which also includes aspects of artificial intelligence and their favorite aircraft.

Jesse Williams and his ex-wife are still battling it out in court over custody issues in their nasty divorce ... and now a judge has ordered both to take a "high conflict" parenting course to right the ship.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the "Grey's Anatomy" star and his ex-wife, Aryn Drake-Lee, have been ordered to participate in an online program for "high conflict parents."

The order came down after Jessie tried and failed to modify previous court orders regarding custody and visitation of their 2 young children, Maceo and Sadie. They've been sharing joint legal and physical custody ... but it's been rocky.

The parenting course is a 6-session online program, providing strategies for reducing conflicts in co-parenting relationships.

TMZ broke the story ... Jesse and Aryn finalized their bitter divorce back in October, at least on paper.

As we've told you, Jesse's 3-year divorce saga has been extremely contentious ... he beefed with Aryn over child custody, lashed out over stories about him dating Minka Kelly and waged legal war over child support money.

NFL kicker Aldrick Rosas was bloodied and barefoot when cops stopped him on the side of the road just before his 2020 arrest ... new police video, obtained by TMZ Sports, shows.

Cops in Chico, Calif. were on the hunt on June 15 for the 26-year-old former NFL Pro Bowler after he had allegedly T-boned a vehicle and fled the scene.

In new police footage, you can see the moment officers finally caught up to him ... and it's pretty wild.

Cops ordered Rosas to get on his knees ... telling the 6'3", 221-lb placekicker, "Yeah, you're a big boy. Get down on your knees. You're just a big boy, I want you down on your knees."

Rosas eventually complied ... and after some initial questions about the car crash, that's when the officer acknowledged Rosas' bloody injuries.

"Are you hurting anywhere?" the cop said. "Or are you just all bloodied up and not hurting?"

The officer then said he was calling medics to the scene because Rosas' feet were "pretty messed up."

Rosas was eventually taken to the hospital to have his injuries checked out ... before he was ultimately booked into Butte County Jail.

Prosecutors later hit Rosas with 3 criminal charges over the incident -- including misdemeanor reckless driving and misdemeanor hit-and-run -- but Rosas cut a plea deal in September to close out the case.

Rosas pled no contest to his charges ... and in exchange, he was hit with 3 years of probation as well as a 30-day suspended jail sentence.

Rosas was also ordered to pay fines and fees ... and he's now not allowed to drive with ANY measurable amount of alcohol in his system while he's on probation.

Rosas signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars shortly after closing out the case ... and played in 6 games for the team in 2020, making 8 of his 11 field goal attempts.

A so-called White Lives Matter rally is ending early in Orange County .... since way more people showed up to counter the group's message, and almost literally sent them packing outta town.

The march went down Sunday afternoon in Huntington Beach, CA, and several face-offs -- mostly verbal -- broke out, but this one came closest to getting physical. When 3 men there supporting the rally quickly found themselves surrounded.

The counter-protesters were outnumbering the WLM contingent all day ... even before the rally got off the ground. When marchers, like these guys, did show up they were greeted by chants like, "Go home Nazis."

The ol' strength in numbers theory was in full effect, though, as the huge crowd chased these 3 guys away from the action ... without laying a hand on them.

Tennessee born comic Melanie Hutsell was in her early 20s when she landed one of the coveted roles as a regular cast member on "Saturday Night Live" -- which included her classic characters Di in the sorority sketches, Jan Brady on Weekend Update and other celeb spoofs like Tori Spelling and Tanya Harding -- in the early '90s seasons of 'SNL' from studio 8H.

Melanie was cast alongside some of the most well-known comedians in 'SNL' history including castmates Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Victoria Jackson, Chris Rock, Phil Hartman, Adam Sandler and David Spade.

What Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License" giveth, it also taketh away -- at least from her bank account -- because the singer just got nailed with a parking ticket!!!

Rodrigo catapulted to the top of the charts with the single earlier this year ... but just learned one of the harsh realities of driving in Los Angeles and just about every other big city -- no matter how hard you try -- eventually, you're gonna get hit with a parking violation.

While it's not clear just what Olivia was ticketed for -- in L.A. there's street sweeping, restricted zones, parking meters, parking passes, we could go on all day -- it appears Olivia is at least having some fun with it.

The singer posted a photo of her ticket with the caption, "Damn, this driving s**t ain't all fun and games." You're tellin' us!!!

'Friends' fans tuning in to the upcoming reunion special won't just see some familiar faces, they'll see familiar places too ... including the famous water fountain and original set.

Sources familiar with production tell us the reunion was shot over the span of 3 days at Warner Brothers Studios last week. We've obtained a photo from the lot showing bleachers and equipment set up around the fountain where the show's opening credits were shot.

Our sources say a live audience participated in the reunion, but it appeared they were mostly union extras, COVID screened and hired for the gig.

Production took things inside as well ... using the show's old stage to film parts of the reunion as well.

As for what was discussed in front of the cameras, that still remains a mystery ... but we know all of the show's stars -- Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc -- participated.

In fact, Perry sent 'Friends' fans into a frenzy Saturday when he quickly posted then deleted a photo of himself in a makeup chair with the caption, "Seconds before eating a makeup brush. Not to mention reuniting with my Friends."

New Mexico State Police are revealing the harrowing moment Officer Darian Jarrott was disgustingly gunned down in cold blood when he pulled over a drug dealer armed with an assault weapon.

NM cops just released this dashcam and bodycam video from Officer Jarrott ... he had pulled over Omar Felix Cueva on Feb. 4 on the I-10 outside Las Cruces. Jarrott told Cueva he was being stopped because his window tint was too dark. Cueva was initially cooperative, but the stop took an ugly turn when Jarrott asked Cueva if he had any firearms.

Jarrott apparently saw a weapon inside Cueva's truck as he was stepping out of the vehicle, and asked Cueva if he could take it off him ... as he put it, "for my safety?" Those would be one of Jarrott's last words. As Cueva stepped out of the truck, Jarrott couldn't see him lift an AR-15-style rifle ... which he unloaded at the officer as they got to the back of the truck.

You hear Jarrott yell, "Oh, s**t!" as the bullets started flying. Cops say Jarrott went down immediately, and Cueva ran over to him and fired several more rounds at point-blank range before fleeing the scene.

While a Dept. of Homeland Security officer arrived and tried to save Jarrott's life, a 40-mile pursuit of Cueva was just beginning. Police eventually tracked him down on the highway, using a PIT maneuver to spin his truck.

Cueva initiated an all-out gun battle with the cops and was killed in the hail of return fire. Las Cruces PD officer Adrian De La Garza was injured in the shootout but survived after treatment at a hospital.