U.S. actress Lindsay Lohan was arrested for assault in New York Thursday, and also charged over a car crash in California, in a double legal blow which could in theory land her back to jail.

The perennially troubled 26-year-old, who is struggling to get her life back on the rails and remains on probation for a 2011 jewelry theft, was arrested in the early hours after a fight at a New York nightclub, police said.

"She was charged with assault" and ordered to appear at a later date, a New York Police Department (NYPD) spokeswoman said, adding that the "Mean Girls" actress allegedly struck another woman.

In California, meanwhile, she was charged with three misdemeanors for allegedly lying to police about whether she was driving a Porsche that crashed into a truck on the Pacific Coast Highway in June.

Santa Monica police spokesman Richard Lewis said she was charged with willfully resisting, obstructing or delaying a police officer, giving false information and reckless driving.

Lohan allegedly told officers that she was not driving the car at the time of the crash, but a police statement said "information was developed that Lohan was the driver of the Porsche when the accident occurred."

The Santa Monica charges carry potential jail terms of up to a year.

The latest charges could lead to jail time for Lohan for violating probation, after she pleaded no contest to stealing a necklace from a jewelry store near her home in Venice, west of Los Angeles, in January 2011.

Lohan -- once a promising young starlet after earning plaudits for her roles in "The Parent Trap" and "Freaky Friday" as a child -- has been trying to rebuild her life after a series of run-ins with the law.

Despite a widely praised performance in "Mean Girls" in her late teens, she has become more famous for drug problems that have led to several prison stays.

She has been given jail terms a number of times in recent years, but has avoided spells of more than a day or two behind bars either because of appeals or prison overcrowding.

In March, a Los Angeles judge ended Lohan's probation on a drink-driving charge after a long string of court appearances, and changed her sentence for the jewelry theft from formal to informal probation, ending in May 2014.

Judge Stephanie Sautner also told her to "stop the nightclubbing" and behave more maturely.

The LA City Attorney's Office said Thursday that prosecutors were awaiting paperwork from Santa Monica and New York before deciding if they will pursue Lohan for probation violation.

"We're just waiting for all the information," said its spokesman Frank Mateljan.

Lohan recently starred in "Liz and Dick," a television biopic about film legend Elizabeth Taylor and her stormy relationship with actor Richard Burton.

The film has earned mixed reviews.

The respected Hollywood Reporter's critic called it "both an awful mess and an instant classic of unintentional hilarity," adding: "Lohan is woeful as Taylor from start to finish." (AFP)

<관련 한글 기사>

인기 女배우, 야밤에 클럽서 난투극 벌여!

미국의 여배우 린지 로한 (26)이 한 나이트클럽에서 난투극을 벌인 끝에 체포되었다고 뉴욕 경찰이 밝혔다.

AFP 통신 등 외신 보도에 따르면 로한은 지난달 29일 (현지시간) 뉴욕의 한 나이트클럽에서 다른 여성에게 폭력을 행사한 혐의로 체포되었다고 한다. 경찰은 그녀에게 폭행혐의를 적용했으며 차후에 경찰에 출두하도록 명령했다.

한편 캘리포니아 경찰은 로한이 지난 6월, 자동차 사고를 낸 후 경찰들에게 거짓말을 한 것에 대해 기소를 했다고 최근 밝혔다. 그녀는 캘리포니아 산타 모니카에서 자신이 몰던 차로 접촉사고를 내고도 자신이 운전하지 않았다고 거짓말을 했는데, 이로 인해 체포거부, 공무 집행 방해, 난폭운전 및 거짓 정보 제공 혐의를 받고 있다.

외신에 따르면 로한은 지난 2011년 자신의 LA 집 주변의 한 보석상에서 목걸이를 훔친 것에 대한 보호 관찰 기간 중이기 때문에, 이번에 밝혀진 혐의로 인해 실형을 살게 될 수도 있다고 한다.

로한의 목걸이 절도 사건을 담당하고 있는 검사들은 이번 두 사건의 서류가 도착하면 이를 검토한 후 로한에게 보호 관찰 규정 위반 혐의를 적용할 것인지 여부를 결정할 것이라고 밝혔다.

아역배우 출신으로 한때 유망한 여배우 겸 가수였던 로한은 20대에 접어들면서 마약, 절도 및 폭력 혐의로 수 차례 유치장 신세를 진 적은 있으나 장기간 수감된 적은 아직 없다.