Former "Home Improvement" child star Jonathan Taylor Thomas was arrested in Malibu, California, after he allegedly kicked a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy in the stomach during a traffic stop, and his representatives have declined to comment.
Thomas was a passenger in a vehicle that deputies pulled over on the morning of September 21 after it stopped in an intersection and blocked traffic, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. Deputies instructed Thomas to remain in the car. He allegedly refused.
When a deputy tried to arrest him, Thomas allegedly kicked the officer in the stomach. He was taken into custody on suspicion of obstruction, public intoxication, and resisting an officer, the Daily Caller reported, citing the sheriff's department account first published by TMZ.
Thomas was processed at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station jail on Monday and released from custody Tuesday. The sheriff's department has not disclosed whether formal charges have been filed or whether the arrest remains at the suspicion stage.
The deputy's name has not been released. Neither has the officer's injury status following the alleged kick. The identity of the driver and the reason the vehicle was originally pulled over also remain unclear.
Thomas's representatives declined to comment. The actor does not maintain a social media account, leaving no public statement from his side.
Thomas became one of the most recognizable child actors of the 1990s through his role as Randy Taylor on ABC's "Home Improvement," which ran from 1991 to 1999. He was a fixture on teen magazine covers and voiced young Simba in Disney's 1994 animated film "The Lion King." Unlike many of his peers, Thomas largely stepped away from Hollywood after the show ended, attending Harvard and Columbia and making only sporadic on-screen appearances in the years since. He has kept an unusually low public profile for a former star of his stature, no social media presence, few interviews, and rare public sightings.
That long stretch of privacy makes the Malibu arrest all the more conspicuous. The sheriff's department account describes a straightforward traffic stop that escalated quickly, a passenger told to stay put, a refusal, and an alleged physical confrontation with a deputy.
Several questions remain unanswered. The sheriff's department listed obstruction and public intoxication in one account and "obstructing and resisting an officer" in another, leaving it unclear whether Thomas faces two charges or three. No details have surfaced about whether a sobriety test was administered or what prompted the public intoxication allegation beyond the deputy's observations at the scene.
Law enforcement officers deserve the same basic respect on a routine traffic stop that any citizen would expect. When a deputy gives a lawful instruction and gets a boot to the gut in return, the system ought to treat that with the seriousness it deserves, famous name or not.
