Actress Amanda Bynes back in trouble with drug-driving arrest

[September 30, 2014]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Troubled former teen star Amanda Bynes was arrested over the weekend on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of drugs in Los Angeles, the California Highway Patrol said on Monday.

Bynes, 28, who has become known in recent years more for her legal troubles and bizarre public behavior than for her acting, was taken into custody Sunday at 4:10 a.m. (1110 GMT), the CHP said.

CHP declined to say what drugs Bynes was suspected of having used. The arrest report said Bynes was arrested "based on the observed driving and her evaluation."

Officers said they saw her Mercedes-Benz sport-utility vehicle stopped in the middle of an intersection in the Sherman Oaks area, northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Bynes appeared disheveled at the time of the traffic stop, according to the incident report.

The actress was released from Los Angeles jail at midday on Sunday after posting $15,000 bail, according to jail records.

Representatives for Bynes could not immediately be reached for comment. Bynes is due in court on Oct. 23.

Bynes, who became a star at the age of 13 when she had her own comedy show on the Nickelodeon television network, had been out of headlines for more than a year. She was placed under psychiatric care after she allegedly started a small fire in front of a Los Angeles home.

Bynes, the star of 2003 film "What a Girl Wants," has not appeared in a film since 2010's "Easy A."

The actress is on three years' probation after pleading no contest in February to a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving with an alcohol component stemming from a 2012 arrest when her BMW swiped the side of a patrol car in West Hollywood.

Bynes' mother had been in control of her legal and financial affairs since August 2013. Celebrity website TMZ said the conservatorship ended earlier this month.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Mary Milliken and Richard Chang)

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