‘No charges’ for Brand over airport scuffle

US prosecutors are unlikely to file charges against British actor-comedian Russell Brand over a spat with a photographer at Los Angeles International Airport, an official said yesterday.

The 35-year-old met prosecutors on Wednesday and they decided not to pursue charges, LA city attorney’s spokesman Frank Mateljan said.

Brand was arrested at the airport in September while travelling with singer Katy Perry, and had been facing a potential charge of battery.

The incident was captured on video as Mr Brand and Ms Perry were swarmed by paparazzi as they entered a Delta Air Lines terminal. On the film, Brand is seen swatting at a photographer and hitting his camera.

Mr Brand and Ms Perry, 26, married in a lavish ceremony in India last month.

Mr Mateljan said a prosecutor would meet the photographer involved in the LAX incident later today. The photographer, whose name was not released, had placed Mr Brand under a citizen’s arrest.

Mr Mateljan said that, while the office could still file a case against Mr Brand, “it doesn’t seem likely”.

The decision was first reported by celebrity website RadarOnline.

Mr Brand was a relative unknown in the United States until he hosted the MTV Video Music Awards in 2008. He has since reprised that gig, and he appeared in the film Get Him To The Greek this summer. He is scheduled to play the title character in a remake of Arthur.

Mr Brand’s profile has also been raised by his relationship with Ms Perry, who has several hits including I Kissed A Girl and California Gurls.

LAX has been the site of several dust-ups between celebrities and the paparazzi.

City prosecutors charged Kanye West with battery, vandalism and grand theft for breaking a photographer’s flash in September 2008, but the case was later dismissed after the rapper reached a civil settlement and attended anger management classes.

Prosecutors declined to charge former boxer Mike Tyson after his arrest at the airport in November last year for allegedly hitting a photographer.

The city attorney’s office said it found insufficient evidence to support a case, which Mr Tyson’s lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, called a “small victory for those who continue to be harassed, annoyed and even stalked by the paparazzi”.