Actor Sean Penn charged

The Oscar-winner faced charges after a violent clash with a ...

18:26 22 February 2010

Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn has been charged with battery and vandalism after he allegedly attacked a photographer in Los Angeles last year.

Penn could face up to 18 months in jail if convicted of the misdemeanour charges, which relate to an incident on October 2 in the Brentwood area of the city.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney's office who filed the charges, Frank Mateljan, stated: "We are alleging he kicked a photographer, and we are also accusing him of breaking the photographer's camera."

The incident was captured on video and broadcast on TMZ.Com, which showed  Penn, dressed in a black shirt and dark pants, striding toward the photographer and kicking at him a few times while repeatedly shouting "Get out".

It is not the first time the 49-year-old has been involved in conflict with a photographer.

He was sentenced to 60 days in jail in 1987 after he attacked a photographer on a film set, and was involved in another altercation with a member of the paparazzi at his brother's funeral in 2006.

Misdemeanour charges are not as serious as felony charges in the US but may still incur jail time if proved.