Actor Arrested for Battery

By Lookout Staff

Long troubled actor Jan-Michael Vincent, best known for his role on the 80's television series Airwolf, was arrested last week in Santa Monica for assault and battery, police said.

Vincent, 55, was arrested for assaulting a 47-year-old woman last Thursday on the 2800 block of Exposition Boulevard, Santa Monica Police Lt. Frank Fabrega said. The extent of the woman's injuries is not known.

Vincent, who has a long history of run-ins with the law, was booked and appeared in Santa Monica Municipal Court the following day. The case is currently under investigation.

In March of 1997, Vincent, who also starred in the television mini-series The Winds of War, pleaded guilty to drunken driving in an accident in Orange County that left him with a broken neck, according to wire reports. He was ordered into a rehabilitation program. The actor was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.

In August of 1996 Vincent rear-ended his girlfriend's Cadillac, causing him to slam into a light post. He suffered a broken vertebra. Vincent's blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit.

Vincent has a history of domestic violence that has placed him in the media spotlight. A woman who claimed Vincent got her pregnant sued him for $5 million in April 1995, saying he pummeled and kicked her and caused her to miscarry.

In 1994, the actor's wife, Joanne Robinson Vincent, claimed in court papers that Vincent had beat, sexually abused and threatened her since their wedding in 1985.

Vincent also was arrested for drug possession in 1988 and was convicted in 1983 of drunken driving. He also faced four battery charges, two stemming from a pair of bar brawls.