By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times –
LOS ANGELES — Lindsay Lohan was charged Thursday with three misdemeanors for allegedly lying to Santa Monica police in connection with a June traffic accident on Pacific Coast Highway, authorities said.
The charges come hours after the “Mean Girls” and “Parent Trap” actress was arrested in New York on suspicion of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, after she allegedly punched a woman in the face at Club Avenue in Manhattan’s fashionable Meatpacking district.
Santa Monica prosecutors and police are expected to detail the local charges and their findings later Thursday.
Santa Monica prosecutors weighed charges against Lohan for weeks after police said they found evidence she lied when she said she was not behind the wheel of a Porsche that collided with a dump truck.
Santa Monica Police Sgt. Richard Lewis told the Los Angeles Times earlier this month the department’s investigation had determined Lohan was driving the Porsche, contradicting statements the actress made to law enforcement officers after the crash.
The charges related to the Santa Monica case mean an automatic revocation of her 2011 probation in connection with a conviction for shoplifting from a Venice, Calif., jewelry store.
Lohan already has been sent to jail several times for violating the terms of her probation. But she eventually complied with the rules set down by L.A. County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner.
More recently, the 26-year-old actress has been spending time in New York, where she has been part of several law enforcement investigations. In September, the actress claimed she was choked by a political aide in a New York hotel room. Charges against the man were dropped.
She was then the subject of an investigation when she was accused of clipping a man with her car outside another Manhattan nightclub. No charges were filed in that case.
In October, police were called to a reported domestic disturbance at Lohan’s mother’s home in Mineola, N.Y., after she had been arguing with her mother. The incident did not result in any arrests or prosecutions.
