Woody Busted for Bad Trip

Fri., Jun. 7, 2002 10:45 AM PDT by Josh Grossberg

What a long, strange trip it was for Woody Harrelson in a London cab.

The former Cheers barkeep was arrested after being involved in a bizarro chase Thursday featuring a squadron of cops, two taxis and an irate driver, according to London's Sun newspaper.

The 40-year-old Harrelson, whose film credits include Natural Born Killers, The People vs. Larry Flynt and Play It to the Bone, had reportedly exited the trendy China White nightclub in the city's Piccadilly section with a woman by his side when he hailed a cab.

After getting in alone, the actor asked the driver for a lift back to his posh hotel in Knightsbridge. After a few minutes on the road, the cab's driver, Les Dartnell, tells the paper, something apparently snapped and Harrelson purportedly went berserk, trying to jump out of the moving vehicle while smashing around the interior.

"I turned around and he was kicking the inside of my taxi. He had suddenly gone completely bonkers," Dartnell is quoted in the Sun. "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." Harrelson also allegedly broke an ashtray.

After the taxi stopped, Harrelson knocked managed to hop out and dash down the street, reportedly knocking over some trash bins before flagging down another cab. Dartnell, meanwhile, radioed the cops for help and--in something straight out of the movies--began giving chase himself.

"I stayed hot on the tail of the taxi and knew the police were on their way," recounts Dartnell.

The cabbie was soon joined in the pursuit by a police car, which, two miles later, pulled over the second taxi (the one with Harrelson). Instead of giving up however, Harrelson allegedly decided to show London how well white men can run--hoofing it down the street in a huff. A footrace ensued with the cabbie and policeman joined by 14 other officers--who arrived on scene in two vans and five police cars.

Eventually, Harrelson was tracked down and taken to a police station, where he spent the rest of the night in jail before posting bail and returning to the hotel to rejoin his wife, Laura, and two young daughters, Demi and Zoe.

Scotland Yard confirmed that a man was involved in a wild chase, but did not identify the person as the actor. "Police were called to reports of a man having allegedly caused criminal damage to a black taxi and then fleeing the vehicle," a spokesperson tells Reuters.

Harrelson's publicist did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. A court date has been set for July 1 at which time prosecutors will decide whether Harrelson will face charges for breaking the lock and glass.

The Wood-man's no stranger to running afoul of the law, but for more peaceful demonstations, not running man-style antics. In addition to crusading for environmental causes, he has championed the legalization of medical marijuana and the use of industrial-grade hemp. In 1996, he was arrested on drug-possession charges after planting four hemp seeds in Lee County, Kentucky. He was eventually acquitted by a jury two years ago.