Shia LaBeouf Arrested for Public Drunkenness Again

Actor has gotten into trouble with the law before

By Holly Passalaqua, Corinne Heller Jul 08, 2017 7:07 PMTags

Shia LaBeouf has been arrested on suspicion of public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and obstruction in Savannah, Georgia.

The Transformers actor was taken into custody around 4 a.m. Saturday and was released after posting a $7,000 bond. LaBeouf has not commented.

Police said in a statement to E! News that officers arrested the actor "after he became disorderly in City Market." They said he approached a bystander and a police officer near an intersection, asking for a cigarette.

"When LaBeouf wasn't given a cigarette, he became disorderly, using profanities and vulgar language in front of the women and children present," the statement said. "He was told to leave the area and refused, becoming aggressive toward the officer. When the officer attempted to place LaBeouf under arrest, LaBeouf ran to a nearby hotel. LaBeouf was arrested in the hotel lobby, where his disorderly behavior continued. LaBeouf was charged with obstruction, disorderly conduct, and public drunkenness."

The actor is currently filming the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon in Savannah.

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Shia LaBeouf: Movie Star!
Chatham County Sheriff's Office

LaBeouf has gotten into trouble with the law before, including for alcohol-related offenses. In 2015, he was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication in Austin, Texas. He was initially stopped for jaywalking and then got into a heated confrontation with the arresting police officer, who said he noticed an odor of alcohol emanating from the actor.

This past April, LaBeouf was arrested in New York City for assault and harassment after getting into an altercation with a person during his live-stream of his political protest. The charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence.

In 2014, LaBeouf was arrested after he was kicked out of a Broadway performance of Cabaret for being disruptive. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to six months of outpatient rehab—which included three he had already completed voluntarily.

"I get to the [police] station and I quickly realize, 'I'm not supposed to be here. I'm not made for this set-up,'" the actor recalled on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. "I get in there and this dude says, 'Whitey's here. Time for snitching.' And I thought, 'Oh, no.' So my possum is like, 'You gotta do something, man. You gotta do something or you're gonna die in here.' So, I turn into Tupac. Now I'm ripping my shirt off and I'm doing push-ups like, 'Don't mess with me, dawg.  I'm crazy, you know what I'm saying?'"

"The guy's like, 'What are you in here for?' I'm like, 'Cabaret, homie. Cabaret,'" he continued. "Anyway, so then they fingerprint me and do the whole business and I'm like, 'I gotta get out of this little cell with these six dudes.' I'm trippin'. So I figure, I'm gonna spit on this cop's shoe. That's my way out. So I spit on his shoe and I'm lookin' at him, and it was [my way out]. He put a mask on me, a Hannibal mask, and a LED jacket, and ushered me into my private little dwelling, where I sat for 25 hours. Then they gave me a McDonald's egg sandwich." 

LaBeouf talks about his arrest history in an essay published in the 2015 book Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars. He writes that he was arrested for the first time at age 9, in Pacoima, California, "for stealing a pair of Nike Cortezes from a local shop."

"When I'm nervous in my creativity, I think of my failures in life and in art," he later writes. "Thinking about my screwups loosens the grip of fear. It's freeing to f--k up and to recover."