Brat-pack actor arrested on triple-assault charge

Christian Slater claims to have turned his back on his Hollywood bad-boy image, but the brat-pack actor's behaviour at a party earlier this week suggests that he is living up to his reputation.

The 27-year-old actor - who has starred in such films as True Romance, Murder in the First, Heathers, and Interview with the Vampire - was arrested in the early hours of Monday, following a heated argument with his girlfriend and a scuffle with police, according to Detective Ron Phillips of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police were called to a condominium in Westwood, Los Angeles, where a row had broken out between Slater and his girlfriend as the party was winding down. The 25 people who had witnessed the argument, in which Slater allegedly bit a man in the stomach, told the police that he had fled the 14th-floor apartment through the stairwell. The officers caught up with him between the eighth and ninth floors and a scuffle ensued. Slater was taken into custody and charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of battery. Detective Phillips refused to describe the weapon, which could range from his fists to a firearm, but added that Slater was examined at a hospital before being taken to jail. "I won't elaborate on the injuries

Three years ago, Slater was arrested at a New York airport for carrying a pistol in his luggage and subsequently spent 10 days in jail.

Recently he likened himself to the sensitive, romantic suitor he played in the film, Bed of Roses. "I consider myself a romantic kind of guy who sends flowers to women," he said. He has been linked with a string of celebrities including Winona Ryder, Christy Turlington and Samantha Mathis, and has a reputation for falling in love with his co-stars, including Helen Slater and Patricia Arquette.

Clare Garner