Lindsay Lohan Risks Return To Jail After Double Trouble

Actress Lindsay Lohan arrives for a private dinner celebrating the upcoming premiere of ''Liz & Dick'' at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California November 20, 2012.

By Colleen Jenkins and Jill Serjeant

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Lindsay Lohan on Thursday faced the possibility of being sent back to jail after a tumultuous 24 hours in which she was arrested in New York for assault, and charged in California with reckless driving and lying to police over a June car crash.

Lohan, 26, who has been to rehab, jail and court multiple times since a 2007 arrest for drunk driving and cocaine possession, is still on unsupervised probation in Los Angeles for a 2011 jewelry theft.

But prosecutors in Santa Monica, California, said in a statement on Thursday that the "Mean Girls" actress lied to police when she told them she was not at the wheel of her Porsche when it smashed into a truck on a busy highway in the summer.

They charged Lohan with three misdemeanor counts stemming from that collision, hours after the troubled starlet was arrested on suspicion of punching a woman in the face at a Manhattan nightclub.

Lohan's New York attorney Mark Heller said the actress was "a victim of someone trying to capture their 15 minutes of fame."

"From my initial investigation, I am completely confident that this case will be concluded favorably and that Lindsay will be completely exonerated," Heller said in a statement on the nightclub incident.

Frank Mateljan of the Los Angeles City Attorney's office, which handled the 2011 jewelry case, said prosecutors were still awaiting paperwork from New York and Santa Monica to determine if they will pursue a probation violation case against Lohan.

A Los Angeles judge told Lohan in March that she must obey all rules until 2014, and advised her to stop night-clubbing and focus on her work.

The two incidents came during a rough week for the former "Parent Trap" child star, who was once considered one of the most promising young actresses in Hollywood.

Her comeback performance on Sunday as screen legend Elizabeth Taylor in the TV movie "Liz & Dick," was panned by critics and watched by a disappointingly small U.S. TV audience of 3.5 million.

In New York, Lohan was briefly arrested shortly after 4 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Thursday on a third-degree misdemeanor assault charge against a 28-year-old woman, police said. The victim suffered minor injuries, New York Police Sergeant John Buthorn said.

Celebrity website TMZ.com said Lohan had been drinking heavily and lashed out in a stand-off over one of the members of British boy band The Wanted, who were also at the club after playing a concert in New York.

Lohan's recent visits to New York have featured run-ins with police and public spats over the last three months.

In October, police were called to the Long Island home of Lohan's mother, Dina, after a loud argument, though no arrests were made. In September, Lohan was arrested in Manhattan after a pedestrian told police her car had struck him in an alley, but charges were not filed.