Actor Shia LaBeouf was arrested again on Saturday following a violent incident at a bar in New Orleans’ French Quarter. His lawyer claims that the actor should not be treated more harshly just because he is a public figure.
Actor Shia LaBeouf was arrested again on Saturday, February 28, in New Orleans after a violent incident at a bar in the French Quarter. According to court documents cited by apnews, he is charged with a new misdemeanor count of simple assault.
The actor’s lawyer stated in a statement that the arrest is related to an altercation that took place on February 17 in front of the Royal Street Inn & R Bar, near the French Quarter. In that case, the actor is accused of repeatedly making homophobic slurs and punching several people during Mardi Gras festivities.
The Hollywood star’s lawyer, Sarah Chervinsky, said that the actor voluntarily turned himself in to the Orleans Parish jail as soon as he learned that the New Orleans police had issued a new arrest warrant, and criticized the way his client is being treated by the authorities.
“No ordinary person should be required to post bail over $100,000 and be incarcerated twice for a single misdemeanor,” she stated, adding: “Just as Mr. LaBeouf does not deserve preferential treatment, Mr. LaBeouf does not deserve to be treated more harshly by the police and the courts simply because he is a public figure.”
According to the police report, a video from the night of the incident shows the shirtless actor pushing one person to the ground and punching another in the face, “possibly causing a dislocated nose.”
Local artist Jeffrey Damnit, identified by police as Jeffrey Klein, said he was among those assaulted.
“He hit me, punched me a few times, pushed me a few times,” he told apnews.
He claimed that the actor seemed to “go crazy”, trying to cause altercations and threatening to beat up those around him, and said that LaBeouf pushed him in the bar that night, calling him homophobic slurs and threatening to kill him. According to witnesses and the police report, several people tried to restrain him and get him to leave, but he became even more aggressive.
The police intervened around 00:45, on the day of the famous Mardi Gras holiday, and arrested the actor.
Shia LaBeouf has refused to speak to the media after a New Orleans judge ruled that the star must return to rehab for drug and alcohol addiction. During that hearing, the actor’s lawyer stated in his defense: “Honestly, being drunk on Mardi Gras is not a crime.”
