May 7, 2009 1:30 pm US/Eastern
Sutherland Surrenders Over Alleged Head-Butt
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 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 later charged with assault.
Sutherland 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 faces a misdemeanor charge of assault in the third degree, a charge which typically warrants just a desk appearance.
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 Shields as a witness.
The notoriously hard-drinking "24" star got into an altercation as fashion designer Jack McCollough was making his way through the crowd at the Mercer hotel.
Sutherland was talking to Shields when he apparently thought their personal space was being invaded by Mcccollough, 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, is reportedly denying that she had anything to do with Sutherland's alleged head-butt.
The spokesperson reportedly says 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.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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