Sheen's New York incident sparks abuse claims, lawsuit

LOS ANGELES - Roughly a month after a wild night that left a New York hotel room in tatters and sent Charlie Sheen to the hospital, the drama continues.

Police in New York on Tuesday were investigating a harassment claim made a day earlier by a woman found locked in the bathroom of Sheen's suite during the incident at the swank Plaza Hotel. She told police the actor put his hands around her throat during the raucous evening in late October, but she managed to slip away and hid in a bathroom. She later said in a nationally televised interview Monday that the actor used racial slurs. Within hours, Sheen sued Capri Anderson claiming her version of events was a fabrication and that she sought $1 million from him to remain quiet.

Sheen's filing pre-empted a lawsuit Anderson said she planned to file against the actor alleging battery and false imprisonment.

Her attorney, Keith Davidson, did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment Monday evening.

Police in New York were investigating the claims and will interview Sheen, but no date has been set. No charges have been filed, but the dueling allegations ensure that Sheen's life will remain the subject of court hearings, as it has for most of the year.

The "Two and a Half Men" star pleaded guilty in August to assaulting his wife on Christmas Day in Aspen, Colo. He was sentenced to 30 days in a rehabilitation center, 30 days of probation and 36 hours of anger management.

He was briefly hospitalized Oct. 26 after security at the luxury Plaza Hotel reported he was disorderly and had broken furniture in his room. He voluntarily went with authorities for a psychiatric evaluation and was released from the hospital the same day. His publicist, Stan Rosenfield, said at the time that Sheen had an adverse reaction to medication.

Sheen was not arrested, and the incident had no impact on the Colorado case. Sheen's lawsuit claims Anderson threatened to travel to meet with the district attorney in Aspen if he did not pay her $1 million.

The lawsuit also claims Anderson dropped the demand to $500,000 on the eve of taping the ABC's "Good Morning America" interview to remain quiet.

In the interview, she claimed Sheen offered her an unspecified sum of money after the incident last month at the Plaza Hotel.

Anderson told "Good Morning America" host George Stephanopoulos that she had been hired for $3,500 to join Sheen for dinner on Oct. 25. She called reports that she expected to be paid for sex "absolutely untrue."

She said Sheen became increasingly unruly as the evening wore on.

"It's hard to say, being that it was my first time hanging out with him, if it was normal everyday behavior for him," she said.

Anderson said that after dinner at a restaurant, she accompanied the "fairly intoxicated" Sheen back to his hotel suite, where "there was a little bit of romance, if you will."

But in the room Sheen became increasingly agitated, including making racial slurs she didn't specify.

He snorted a "white powdery substance," she said.

Sheen's lawsuit includes a reference to Anderson's interview Monday, which was to be followed up later in the day with a segment on "Nightline."

He claims Anderson locked herself in the bathroom because she had taken one of the Emmy-nominated actor's watches valued at $165,000. The suit is seeking substantial monetary damages, including the costs of the Patek Philippe watch.

"Through this action, Sheen intends to expose (Anderson) for the fraud that she is, and to seek redress for her unlawful attempt to extort an exorbitant sum of money from him based on sheer lies and deceit."

On the CBS series "Two and a Half Men," TV's top-rated sitcom, Sheen plays a character named Charlie Harper, a freewheeling bachelor whose playboy lifestyle is complicated when his uptight brother and the brother's son move in.

Sheen's legal issues haven't hurt the "Men," which has remained in the Top 20 primetime shows ranked by Nielsen Co. since the hotel incident with more than 13 million viewers.