Actor Michael Pitt, identified for his TV roles on “Boardwalk Empire” and “Dawson’s Creek,” is accused of sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend, choking her, and attacking her with a cinder block and a chunk of lumber at his New York Metropolis residence, in line with a grand jury indictment.
Pitt, 44, whose attorneys denied the allegations, was arrested Friday on 9 counts together with first-degree sexual abuse, prison sexual acts, assault, tried assault and strangulation. The indictment cites 4 incidents between April 2020 and August 2021 at Pitt’s residence within the Bushwick part of Brooklyn.
Brooklyn District Legal professional Eric Gonzalez’s workplace declined to remark Wednesday past the allegations listed within the indictment.
Pitt’s lawyer, Jason Goldman, mentioned he already had exonerating proof and anticipated the case to be dismissed.
“Unfortunately, we live in a world where somebody like Mr. Pitt — an accomplished professional who would never so much as contemplate these crimes — can be arrested on the uncorroborated word of an unreliable individual,” Goldman mentioned in a textual content message to The Related Press.
He added, “In reality, this baseless claim is suspiciously raised some four or five years after the alleged incident, from a time when the two parties were in a completely consensual relationship.”
Pitt pleaded not responsible to the fees on Friday and posted $100,000 bail, Goldman mentioned. He’s due again in courtroom in Brooklyn on June 17.
The Related Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused except they arrive ahead publicly, which the girl in Pitt’s case has not finished.
The indictment alleges Pitt forcibly touched his ex-girlfriend sexually in April 2020. In August 2020, the grand jury alleges Pitt compelled oral intercourse on the girl and assaulted her with a 4-inch-by-4-inch (10-centimeter-by-10-centimeter) piece of lumber.
The indictment additionally says Pitt attacked her with a cinder block twice in June 2021 and choked her in August 2021.
TMZ reported in 2022 that Pitt was arrested in Brooklyn for allegedly punching a person after taking his cellphone and, two months later, was delivered to a hospital below police escort after a public outburst in New York.
Pitt, who grew up in West Orange, New Jersey, performed the character Jimmy Darmody for 2 seasons on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” with the forged led by Steve Buscemi profitable Display Actors Guild Awards in 2011 and 2012 for excellent efficiency by an ensemble in a drama collection. The present additionally gained a Golden Globe for greatest drama collection in 2011.
His first main function got here within the 2001 movie “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” In 2005, he starred in “Last Days,” director Gus Van Sant’s movie a few fictional rock star impressed by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. He additionally performed Henry Parker in a single season of The WB’s “Dawson’s Creek” in 1999-2000.
