(NOTE: The article is about actor Shia LaBeouf being arrested and charged with additional assault allegations following a bar fight in New Orleans.)
(New Orleans) Actor Shia LaBeouf, who was previously arrested and charged with assault after reportedly striking several people outside a bar in New Orleans earlier this month, was arrested again on Saturday and charged with an additional count of simple assault, according to court documents.
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It is not yet known if this new charge is related to the February 17th altercation outside the Royal Street Inn & R Bar, where LaBeouf is accused of repeatedly making homophobic comments while hitting multiple people during Mardi Gras celebrations. Phone and email messages left on Saturday to LaBeouf’s attorney and the New Orleans police have not received an immediate response.
In the February 17 incident, a video shows LaBeouf shirtless pushing one person to the ground and striking another person in the face, likely causing a nose dislocation, according to a New Orleans police report.
Jeffrey Damnit, a well-known local artist identified by police as Jeffrey Klein in the incident report, stated that he was one of the individuals assaulted by LaBeouf.
“He hit me, punched me multiple times, pushed me several times,” Mr. Damnit told the Associated Press.
LaBeouf “went nuts” trying to start fights and threatened to beat up the artist and others, according to Mr. Damnit. He added that LaBeouf shoved him from behind at the bar later that evening, yelling homophobic slurs and threatening to kill him.
Mr. Damnit and others restrained LaBeouf and tried to get him to leave, but he refused and became more aggressive, according to the local artist and the police report.
Police arrived at the bar around 12:45 AM on the city’s famous Mardi Gras and arrested the actor.
LaBeouf has not entered a plea yet and refused to talk to reporters on Thursday after a New Orleans judge ordered him back to rehabilitation. During that hearing, LaBeouf’s lawyer, Sarah Chervinsky, told the judge that “being drunk during Mardi Gras is not a crime”.
