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Shia LaBeouf on Thursday was ordered to enroll in substance abuse treatment, undergo a drug testing program and pay a $100,000 bond as conditions of his release from custody after the actor allegedly battered and hurled homophobic slurs at two men at a New Orleans bar.
The requirements imposed on LaBeouf, 39, by New Orleans judge Simone Levine came after the Transformer film franchise star was initially allowed to leave jail without being required to pay a bond in the hours after his 17 February arrest on two counts of misdemeanor battery.
But at the time LaBeouf was let out, the allegations of homophobic comments attributed to him had not yet become part of the official court record, Levine said in court on Thursday.
So Levine summoned the actor to New Orleans’ criminal courthouse on Thursday. He appeared with the well-known New Orleans criminal defense attorney Sarah Chervinsky representing him, and a state judge told him to put up bond to remain out of jail while the case is unresolved.
Levine also said LaBeouf, who has long been open about his struggles with sobriety, must subject himself to a drug testing program and seek treatment for substance abuse.
The judge on Thursday ordered LaBeouf to take a drug and alcohol test. Chervinsky said the test result did not show her client under the influence of alcohol or any illegal substances.
Yet Levine, without discussing the specific findings, said the test result left her concerned that LaBeouf “does not take his alcohol addiction seriously”.
Chervinsky said she and her client would provide the bond paperwork to the court shortly so he could remain out of custody pending the outcome of the case.
Meanwhile, at least for the moment, Levine denied a request for LaBeouf to travel out of New Orleans.
He is tentatively due back in court on 19 March.
Thursday’s activity in LaBeouf’s case came nine days after his arrest at the R Bar in New Orleans’ Marigny section in connection with allegations made under oath by police that he punched two men while repeatedly insulting both with the word “faggot”.
One of the men, 34-year-old Nathan Thomas Reed, has publicly said he identifies as queer.
The other, 49-year-old Jeffrey Damnit, has said he was wearing eyeshadow and lipstick when police say he was battered by LaBeouf at about 12.45am on 17 February, the morning of the city’s festive Mardi Gras holiday.
He also celebrated Mardi Gras in drag and called on prosecutors in Louisiana’s best-known city to charge LaBeouf under the state’s hate crimes law, which allows for enhanced penalties against anyone who victimizes another person on “the actual or perceived” basis of certain categories such as gender or sex.
The office of the New Orleans district attorney, Jason Williams, has not indicated whether it may do that.
On the day of his arrest, court documents allege, LaBeouf was becoming increasingly aggressive at R Bar, which is a short walk from New Orleans’ renowned French Quarter.
Documents alleged that LaBeouf then tried to punch a bar manager who was tasked with removing him from the business. Once escorted out, LaBeouf allegedly punched Damnit – who was helping the bar manager – in his upper body.
LaBeouf later returned and punched Reed in the nose, though that victim said he did not want to fight, according to officers’ allegations.
Bystanders ultimately held LaBeouf down until police and paramedics arrived, officers reported.
Officers reported that LaBeouf was alleged to have called Damnit – whose given last name is Klein – and Reed “faggot” multiple times. One cellphone video viewed by the Guardian depicts LaBeouf aiming the slur at Damnit in particular.
LaBeouf was taken to a hospital, discharged, jailed on misdemeanor battery counts and soon released from the lockup on his own recognizance.
Within hours, he was seen reveling on Bourbon Street, a prime spot for Mardi Gras partying. He at one point had Mardi Gras beads around his neck and danced with his jail papers in his mouth.
Days later, LaBeouf was recorded and photographed at a New Orleans nightclub dancing and locking lips with an unidentified brunette, the gossip outlet TMZ reported.
The alum of Disney’s show Even Stevens has prior brushes with the criminal court system. While being arrested in 2014 over allegations that he disrupted a Broadway show in New York City, LaBeouf was accused of insulting a police officer with the homophobic slur “fag”.
He was recorded saying police were racist and a Black officer on the scene would go to hell during a 2017 disorderly conduct arrest in Savannah, Georgia, that led to a court-mandated stint in rehab.
Court records list a New Orleans home address for LaBeouf. When approached there by a Guardian journalist and offered the chance to comment on the allegations surrounding his R Bar arrest, LaBeouf replied: “Get your ass up out of here, you silly bitch.”
“Yeah,” he shouted as the journalist complied with his request to be left alone. “I’m Shia LaBeouf.”
