Charges against Naomi Campbell unlikely

Driver says supermodel — known for feisty temper — assaulted him

Alastair Grant / AP file

NEW YORK - A man hired to drive Naomi Campbell told police she assaulted him from the back seat of a luxury SUV on Tuesday before hopping out and running away, but the supermodel likely won’t face criminal charges.

Police consulted with the Manhattan district attorney’s office and issued a harassment report, which doesn’t carry any penalty, because no officer witnessed what took place between the driver and Campbell, whose feisty temper has led to previous legal troubles. They said no arrests were anticipated.

The driver, who also drives Campbell’s boyfriend, decided not to pursue the matter criminally. It’s unclear if he would pursue it in civil court.

Earlier Tuesday, the man told police Campbell hit him from behind and his head struck the steering wheel of the black Cadillac Escalade, causing bruising under his right eye. He pulled over in midtown Manhattan and got out to speak to a traffic agent, who alerted police. Campbell was not at the scene when officers arrived, police said.

Campbell did not speak to police, but her assistant went to the station house where the driver gave his account. A spokesman for Campbell, who has previously pleaded guilty to assaulting people hired to work for her, said she would cooperate with police.

“There shouldn’t be a rush to judgment,” spokesman Jeff Raymond said. “Naomi will cooperate voluntarily, and there is more to the story than meets the eye.”

The 27-year-old driver, apparently hired just for the day, told police he picked Campbell up at a Manhattan hotel and was taking her to Astoria Studios, a TV and film studio complex in Queens, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.

Campbell faced a series of lawsuits and criminal cases accusing her of attacking her household employees and two police officers at London’s Heathrow Airport.

She pleaded guilty in the Heathrow case in June 2008 after prosecutors said she cursed, kicked and spat at police in a rage over a missing piece of luggage; she was sentenced to 200 hours of community service.

She also did a week of community service sweeping floors and scrubbing toilets in a Manhattan garbage-truck garage in 2007 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault for hurling a cell phone at her maid because of a vanished pair of jeans.

In 2000, Campbell pleaded guilty in Toronto to an assault charge for beating an assistant who said the model whacked her on the head with a phone.

A few of Campbell’s former aides and maids have sued her, accusing her of violent outbursts; some cases have been settled on undisclosed terms.

Campbell, of Britain, became one of the world’s highest-paid models after being discovered at age 15.