Niamh Shackleton
Details have been released following the arrest of Kiefer Sutherland, who is suspected of felony criminal threats.
The actor, best known for movies and TV shows such as 24, Designated Survivor, A Few Good Men, and The Lost Boys, was taken into custody in the early hours of Monday morning (January 12) by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police received a call regarding an incident with a ride-share driver near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue.
Sutherland is believed to have entered the ride-share and 'physically assaulted the driver (the victim), and made criminal threats', per BBC News.
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The alleged ordeal didn't leave anyone with any serious injuries and no one required medical treatment.
Details about the apparent victim have not been released at the time of writing.
Sutherland, the son of the late actor Donald Sutherland who passed in 2024 at the age of 88, was then arrested on suspicion of felony criminal threats and was booked into jail on a $50,000 bond, which the Hollywood star has since paid for.
He was released from custody around 11:30am on the same day of his arrest.
Per Criminal Defense Lawyer, a 'criminal threat' is a threat involving one person threatening someone else with physical harm or death.
The website further explains: "Criminal threats are made with the intent of placing someone in fear of injury or death. It doesn't matter if the defendant intends to carry out the threat.
"Also, many states don't require proof that a victim actually experienced fear or terror. Rather, it's the intent of the person making the threat to place another in fear that typically matters."
This type of felony crime in California can be punishable by up to three years in prison and/or a fine of $10,000.
The Hollywood Division of the LAPD is investigating the incident, ABC News reports, and Sutherland is next due in court on February 2 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.
Monday's incident is the first encounter Sutherland has had with the police for some time, his most recent being in 2020 when he was arrested for making an illegal U-turn in Hollywood.
Prior to that, the British-Canadian actor had been arrested several times, and in 2007, he landed himself behind bars for 47 days for violating his probation and driving under the influence.
He was also arrested for assault in 2009, but the charges against him were later dropped.
UNILAD has approached Sutherland's reps in the wake of his arrest on Monday.