Naomi Campbell won't face charges over 'attack'

Supermodel Naomi Campbell looked to have avoided facing another assault charge today after being accused of hitting her driver in New York.

The catwalk legend's chauffeur prompted a police probe in the city after claiming the 39 year old hit him from the back seat of her luxury car, causing bruising under his right eye.

But the authorities later said the driver had decided not to pursue the matter, meaning Campbell - who has notched up a series of assault convictions over the years - will most likely not face any charges.

New York police yesterday issued a "harassment report" after consultation with the district attorney's office because no officer witnessed what took place in the black Cadillac Escalade. The report does not carry any penalty.

Earlier, Campbell's spokesman Jeff Raymond said she would co-operate with police over the matter.

"There shouldn't be a rush to judgment," he said. "Naomi will co-operate voluntarily and there is more to the story than meets the eye."

The model's 27-year-old driver, apparently hired just for the day, told police he was attacked from the back seat before she jumped out and ran away. The blow is said to have caused his head to strike the steering wheel.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said the driver told officers he picked Campbell up at a Manhattan hotel yesterday and was taking her to Astoria Studios, a TV and film studio complex in Queens.

The London-born fashion icon's latest brush with the law comes just days after she admitted she was "not perfect" during a fund-raising event for quake-hit Haiti.

Campbell - who has also recently struck up a friendship with Sarah Brown, the wife of the Prime Minister - has been convicted for a number of assault charges on both sides of the Atlantic during her long modelling career.

In June 2008 she was ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service for kicking and spitting at police officers after going "berserk" on an aircraft.

She screamed foul-mouthed abuse at the captain of a British Airways flight waiting to take off from Heathrow Airport when one of her bags went missing at Terminal 5.

The model flew into a rage when officers arrived to remove her from the plane, lashing out and accusing them of targeting her because she was black.

She also did a week of community service sweeping floors and scrubbing toilets in a Manhattan rubbish-truck garage in 2007 after pleading guilty to an assault charge for hurling a mobile phone at her maid over a vanished pair of jeans.

In 2000 Campbell pleaded guilty in Toronto, Canada, to an assault charge for beating an assistant who said the model struck her on the head with a phone.

Campbell became one of the world's highest-paid models after being discovered at 15.