Donato Sardella/WireImage.comCelebrities have their fair share of run-ins with the law. And then there are those who like to run away from the law.
Just look at Estella Warren, who yesterday after getting busted for a DUI punched a cop and tried to escape police custody only to be captured again.
Usually, a tabloid circus erupts around these folks that can last in some cases for years (see O.J. Simpson).
So in honor of the latest high profile lawbreaker—and with apologies to the Bronx Zoo cobra (we love ya, Mia)—we've rounded up our favorite five famous celebrity fugitives of recent infamy:
1. Randy and Evi Quaid: The wacky couple has been generating quite a lot of headlines these past two years for their antics, but none more so when last October they fled from authorities in California, where they were wanted for failing to appear in court on felony vandalism charges. The Quaids crossed the border into Evi's home country of Canada and sought refugee status there, claiming Randy was being targeted by "Hollywood star whackers," a mysterious hit squad that were out to kill him and had already done in the likes of David Carradine and Heath Ledger. Eventually, Canuck border officials granted the erstwhile Vacation star permission to remain in Canada as a resident on account of Evi's citizenship and a warrant remains out for him in the U.S.
2. Lindsay Lohan: The former teen queen received probation in a 2007 DUI and drug case. But in May 2010, she drew the ire of a Los Angeles judge when she skipped a status hearing to party at the Cannes Film Festival, where paparazzi photographed her—gasp!—drinking. A $100,000 bench warrant was issued for her arrest. After failing to attend weekly alcohol education classes and submit to random drug testing, she was given 90 days in jail, of which she served 14.
3. Roman Polanski: After 33 years on the lam—really living and working in his native France, which considers the 77-year-old director a cultural treasure and refuses to extradite him—Polanski was finally collared in September 2009 by Swiss authorities who agreed to hand him over to the U.S. where he was wanted for engaging in unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl. The case polarized Hollywood. Some of his fellow filmmakers and even his now-grown up victim came to his defense, noting the original judge's decision not to honor a plea deal the Oscar winner struck and instead give him a jail sentence. Other celebs like Kirstie Alley blasted Polanski. A Swiss appeals court eventually refused the extradition request and freed the helmer. The charges remain pending.
4. Hayden Panettiere: To marine mammals, this babe is a real hero. To Japanese authorities? Not so much. In October 2007, Panettiere was part of a convoy of activists from the U.S. and Australia who paddled out on surfboards to protest the annual slaughter of dolphins and whales by Japanese fisherman. Shortly after, an arrest warrant was issued for the starlet for tresspassing. But in March 2010, Hayden returned to Taiji to meet with the city's mayor, councilmen and Fisheries Union representatives in hopes of drawing local attention to the issue.
5. Wesley Snipes: The Blade star was on the razor's edge of justice after a warrant was issued for his arrest in October 2006 on federal tax-fraud charges. Snipes eventually turned himself in, the case went to trial, and he was convicted and sentenced to three years in jail for tax evasion. Though it took another three years of failed appeals while remaining out on bail before he finally donned the pinstripes and reported to prison in December 2010.
(Originally published on May 24, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. PT)