Posted on 06/07/2002 9:37:06 AM PDT by moyden
EXCLUSIVE
Harrelson flees cops
By MIKE SULLIVAN, DEREK BROWN and SARA NATHAN
MOVIE wildman Woody Harrelson was wrestled to the ground and arrested by 14 cops who chased him yesterday after he allegedly went berserk in a London taxi.
The actor, star of films including Natural Born Killers and Indecent Proposal, is said to have:
KICKED glass in the cab before forcing his way out by breaking a door lock.
HAILED another taxi, which was chased by the driver of the damaged cab, and
FLED on foot after the second taxi was intercepted by police.
Harrelson who found fame as dim barman Woody in TV comedy Cheers was reportedly pursued through West London streets by the 14 cops AND several police cars in the 2am drama.
The 40-year-old Texan was eventually felled and arrested on suspicion of causing £300-worth of damage to the cab.
He spent the rest of the night in a cell at Belgravia police station before being freed on bail.
Cabbie Les Dartnell said he was hailed by Harrelson outside the exclusive China White nightclub in Piccadilly.
He was with a woman but climbed in alone and asked to be taken to his hotel in Knightsbridge. Moments later dad-of-three Les, 44, heard a loud crack.
He said: I turned round and he was kicking the inside of my taxi. He had suddenly gone completely bonkers.
He was kicking the glass and trying to get out. I tried to find a space to pull over but he had already yanked back the door handle and broken it.
The doors unlocked and he got out the cab and bent the door right back.
Les said Harrelson ran off along the Haymarket kicking over bins before leaping into another taxi.
The cabbie gave chase and called cops on his radio.
He said: It was like something out of Hollywood. I stayed hot on the tail of the taxi and knew the police were on their way.
A patrol car intercepted the second taxi two miles away, near Sloane Square. But Harrelson allegedly leaped out and legged it.
Les said: He came flying out at full pelt and started running down the street. He kept going and more police arrived in a car and a van. He was still pelting away and made it to Sloane Street.
By this time there were 14 police officers chasing him. There were two vans and five police cars. I couldnt believe it.
They finally caught him, restrained him and put him in a van. I went to the station with them and they locked him up.
Police will send a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, who will decide if there will be charges.
Keen green campaigner Harrelson, who also starred in Money Train and The People vs Larry Flynt, must report back to the nick on July 1.
He would not comment on the alleged fracas as he arrived at the posh Cliveden Town House hotel in Knightsbridge last night. Wife Laura and daughters Demi, eight, and Zoe, six, were with him.
...And I'm so sorry to hear Woody bespoiled that place as well. People like him should be banned from polite society. Those people are just silly spoiled children who belong in a day care center. They have brains enough to memorize words and gestures that mimic real life, but not much more.
If they had to earn a real living, most would probably be dishwashers or laborers.
Ahh, but then you've never gotten between me and my Oreos ;^)
I could be wrong, but I believe he was one of several people in the 1960s who confessed to being the second shooter on the grassy knoll. He's in prison for something else, though.
What the He##? And to think, here in America, flight from an officer/resisting arrest is a FELONY, and you may not even get the option of bail. Screwy English.....
Some say so. He's confessed/denied this but I'm inclined not to believe it unless you also believe that one of the other three "tramps" was E. Howard Hunt.
I could be wrong, but I believe he was one of several people in the 1960s who confessed to being the second shooter on the grassy knoll. He's in prison for something else, though.
Harrelson Sr. was convicted of murdering Judge John Wood back in 1979. This was supposedly a mob hit as Wood, known as "Maximum John" for his harsh sentences, was close to wrapping up a case against an influential drug dealer.
So9
At the same time, the world learns what a nutjob he is.
Yep --- it's a sweet little scenario.
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