We don’t have access to the photos discussed here, but you can see them here

Last week Britney Spears was photographed crying in a car while she was behind the wheel, her maybe on-again boyfriend Jason Trawick in the back seat. Apparently some paparazzi from the X17 agency witnessed an altercation inside the parked car, with Britney hitting and/or slapping Jason in the face during an argument. The way an eyewitness at X17 describes it is that she “hit Jason in the face five or six times,” but it’s later described as slapping rather than punching. Both In Touch and The National Enquirer are running this story, with different viewpoints as to how and why Britney flipped out. In Touch runs with the headline “Jason Pushes Britney Over The Edge” while The Enquirer reads “Britney Beats Up On Jason.” If it was a guy hitting a woman, no tabloid (except maybe Star) would claim the woman had “pushed him over the edge.” Britney is responsible for her own behavior and there’s no excuse for resorting to violence. This doesn’t bode well for Britney’s mental health or for the state of her relationship.

Here’s some of The Enquirer’s account, which has Britney pounding on Jason after he turns down her marriage proposal:

An enraged Britney Spears punched her boyfriend-watchdog Jason Trawick in the face after he flatly refused her plea to get married, an insider tells The Enquirer.

The 28-year-old pop star believes tying the knot is the best tactic to terminate her father’s conservatorship over her affairs, according to sources. But Jason, 38, balked at her marriage talk during a meeting with her lawyers, sending Britney into a rage.

“Britney thought getting married would be a good strategy to bring an end to her father’s conservatorship, but Jason wasn’t on board with it at all,” divulged the insider.

“Britney has begged Jason to marry her, and he’s repeatedly told her no. When the meeting with her lawyers didn’t go her way, it put Britney in a horrible mood.”

After the meeting – a seething Britney and Jason – a William Morris agent who was hired by her father Jamie Spears to monitor her – headed to Barneys to shop, said the insider.

“Britney walked into Barneys hopping mad, and wanted Jason to buy her almost everything she saw,” said the insider. “Even worse, she treated Jason like a servant in front of the store’s staff, and he got increasingly irritated.”

When Jason told Britney that they had to head home, she blew up, said the source.

“She started cursing him and threatened to end his career,” said the source.

“Jason quickly led Britney out of the store and she got behind the wheel of her car, a white Mercedes SUV. She started screaming at the top of her lungs, and as she drove off, she started to slap, hit and punch Jason.”

When she finally stopped pummeling him, a stunned Jason announced that he was quitting his job as her minder, said the source.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, April 26, 2010]

According to X17, Britney was at the gym before she went over to Jason’s. He was following her leaving the house in another car with a bodyguard and called her on her cell phone, asking her to pull over. She ended up blocking traffic waiting for him and she laid into him when he got into her car, screaming and slapping him. X17 doesn’t mention this alleged Barney’s trip preceding the incident, but In Touch reports the same sequence of events as The Enquirer does for the same day. Britney was at Barneys with Jason, then she had a fit in the car. It’s possible Britney went to both the gym and Barneys that day. Whatever happened, Britney was seen slapping Jason, if X17 is to be believed. I expect we’ll hear soon that they’re breaking up again, and I hope Britney is ok and can keep it together. On one side I feel sympathy for her because it’s possible the man she wants to be her boyfriend is bankrolled by her dad, who also controls her life. On the other hand it’s really upsetting to hear that she’s smacking Jason. Is that due to mental illness, anger management problems, or a lot of both?