'Scandal' actor Short charged in felony battery case

[March 27, 2014]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Actor Columbus Short, best known for his role as Harrison Wright on ABC's hit drama series "Scandal," was arrested on Wednesday on a felony battery charge, the Los Angeles County District Attorney said.

Short, 31, was involved in a March 15 incident where he was alleged to have punched and knocked out a male guest at a restaurant in West Los Angeles, the District Attorney's office said in a statement.

The actor was booked and released from Claremont Police Department in eastern Los Angeles County after posting $50,000 bail. The actor is due in court at a later date, and if convicted, he faces up to four years in state prison.

Short has a supporting role in ABC's "Scandal" alongside lead actress Kerry Washington, playing a member of Olivia Pope's covert crisis management team operating in the murky political world of Washington D.C.

ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co., declined to comment on the incident. Representatives for the actor did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Mary Milliken and Cynthia Osterman)

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