Jessica Simpson bodyguard roughs up Daily News photographer

BY GEORGE RUSH and JORDAN LITE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Four beefy bodyguards for Jessica Simpson roughed up a Daily News
photographer and snatched the memory card from his camera early
yesterday after a club promoter invited him to take pictures of the
reality TV star.

"I'm a Daily News photographer; I'm not a paparazzi. Leave me alone!"
John Roca yelled at the guards.

"I'm shocked. These guys jumped on me like a chicken on a June bug,"
Roca later recalled.

Dressed in a plunging bustier, miniskirt and iridescent heels, Simpson,
25, was stretched out on a raised divan inside a prime cabana at the
Pink Elephant in Southampton, L.I., when Roca approached and asked to
photograph her.

"As she turned around, I hit her with a volley of shots. Before you
could say 'Madonna,' four guys pounced on me," Roca said.

Simpson's protectors grabbed Roca's camera - but not before he managed
to pop out the memory card and stuff it in his pants pocket, he said.
When one plunged his meaty fist into Roca's Brooks Brothers duds to
retrieve the card, he tore the seam of his pants, the photographer
said.

Simpson spokesman Rob Shuter said, "This had nothing to do with
Jessica's security. It was club security that acted on its own."

But Pink Elephant sources insisted the zealous security detail was
Simpson's. "All the bodyguards coming on heavy were employees of
Jessica, not the club," the source said.

Roca said he went to the packed new club around 2 a.m. yesterday after
a publicist tipped him off that Simpson and Star Jones were there
celebrating their independence - Simpson from newly ex-husband Nick
Lachey and Jones from her gig on "The View."

Big J...

Yes, because of the vacuum caused by Simpson's head and Star's heart.

Big J

"Scrubs" actor Zach Braff as well as models Angie Everhart, Adriana
Lima and Ana Beatriz Barrios also were there, witnesses said.

"It is an unfortunate incident, but we don't have the memory card.
We're trying to help John recover it," a club spokesman said.

Roca said he filed a report with Southampton police for the theft of
the memory card, which included images from two additional News
assignments, as well as a flash that broke during the fracas.