May 8, 2009 6:07 am US/Eastern
Kiefer Sutherland Charged With Assault
Fashion Designer Claims '24' Star Head-Butted Him At Met Museum Gala; Arrest Could Be Violation Of Actor's Parole
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Still video image of Kiefer Sutherland reporting to the NYPD on May 7, 2009 after being accused of head-butting a fashion designer.
CBS
Actor Kiefer Sutherland has been charged with assault following a late-night altercation at Manhattan nightclub on Monday.
Sutherland surrendered to New York City police Thursday afternoon for questioning about a fashion designer's claim that the actor head-butted him at a Manhattan nightclub.
He was led into the first precinct at 16 Ericsson Place by authorities after arriving with his lawyer in a Lincoln Town Car. He did not speak to the throng of reporters and photographers surrounding the station.
Sutherland was given a ticket and ordered to appear in court at a later date. It is a minor misdemeanor that is akin to a speeding ticket.
But with Sutherland's prior arrest record for drunk driving, there may be repercussions beyond the alleged head-butting incident.
The altercation allegedly occurred at a celeb-studded SoHo after party following the Costume Institute's gala at the Metropolitan Museum that Sutherland attended, along with Brooke Shields and hundreds of other bold-faced names.
Detectives also may question actress Brooke Shields as a witness because she was at the trendy SoHo nightspot SubMercer, in the basement of the Mercer Hotel, where the altercation took place. Drinks at the ultra-hip club cost around $15.
The notoriously hard-drinking "24" star got into the alleged altercation as fashion designer Jack McCollough was making his way through the crowd at the SubMercer.
Sutherland was talking to Shields when he apparently thought their personal space was being invaded by McCollough, and allegedly smashed his forehead into the fashion designer's face.
"I just think it's really sad because he's a great actor, and really good looking," Williamsburg resident Alison Young says. "It's really sad when people drink and do dangerous things and hurt other people."
"He must have been drinking," Forest Hills resident Richard Santiago says. "People do stupid things."
"Anyone who knows Jack McCollough knows that he wouldn't hurt a fly," a representative said. "He was the victim of a vicious, violent, unprovoked assault, and the matter is now in the hands of the authorities."
Sutherland's been arrested twice before, in 2004 and 2007, on drunken driving charges in Los Angeles, serving 48 days in jail.
Even though the assault charge is a misdemeanor, police in Los Angeles could come down harder because Sutherland is on five years probation, and is supposed to obey the law at all times.
Shields, through her representative, reportedly denied that she had anything to do with Sutherland's alleged head-butt.
The spokesperson reportedly said that the fashion designer "did nothing inappropriate, and she doesn't know what caused Keifer to do what he did."
"Our office intends to contact the NYPD and New York prosecutors to review the incident and determine whether Mr. Sutherland violated probation," Los Angeles City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan told People Magazine.
Please stay with CBS 2 HD and wcbstv.com for more on this developing story.
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