Actor Emile Hirsch Charged With Aggravated Assault, Checks Into Rehab

Hirsch rep cites "enormous amount of alcohol," claims Hirsch doesn't remember.

ByABC News
February 13, 2015, 10:50 AM
Emile Hirsch is pictured on Jan. 24, 2015 in Park City, Utah.
Emile Hirsch is pictured on Jan. 24, 2015 in Park City, Utah.
Michael Bezjian/Getty Images

— -- Actor Emile Hirsch was charged Thursday with assault stemming from an alleged incident last month, when he was in Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, according to a court document obtained by ABC News.

A few days after the incident, the "Lone Survivor" actor checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation facility, his spokesman, Robert Offer, told ABC News in a prepared statement. Offer added that Hirsch "consumed an enormous amount of alcohol on the evening in question and he doesn't have any memory of what happened at the time of the allegations."

The court document, filed by prosecutors and citing police reports, alleges that Hirsch choked a female studio executive and dragged her across a table on Jan. 25 at Tao Nightclub in Park City, Utah.

Hirsch is charged "with aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, and intoxication, a class C misdemeanor," Summit County Prosecutor Ryan Stack told ABC News. The assault charge "is punishable by up to five years in the Utah State Prison and a $5,000 fine," Stack said.

Police responded at around 3:52 a.m. to the nightclub and met with Daniele Bernfeld, the executive who reported she was assaulted by the "Into the Wild" actor, according to the document filed with Utah's Third District Court. She told police Hirsch, 29, approached her shortly after 3 a.m., appeared drunk and called her a "rich kid."

"Hirsch grabbed Bernfeld, but she pushed him away," the document said.

Bernfeld is an executive with Insurge Pictures, a company under the Paramount Pictures umbrella, according to The Associated Press.

After the actor moved away from Bernfeld to join friends at another table, he came back and "wrapped his arm around her to put her in a chokehold," according to the prosecutors' court filing. "Hirsch pulled Bernfeld across the table and onto the floor, where he landed on top of her."

Bernfeld told investigators she may have momentarily blacked out after Hirsch "wrapped his hands around her neck," according to the court filing. Two people at the club pulled the actor off Bernfeld, the document added.

A witness at a nearby table corroborated Bernfeld's account of the incident, and Park City Sgt. Jay Randall observed redness on her neck and chest, the court document said.

Police also spoke with the actor, who was not arrested but admitted to having "three or four drinks" and said he was in a "verbal confrontation" with Bernfeld, but didn't know her, the document noted.

"His balance was poor and he slurred some of his words," Randall said of Hirsch in the documents.

Neil Kaplan, an attorney for Hirsch, said he did not have any comment, but referred to a statement made by Offer.

"Emile takes these allegations very seriously, and is devastated that any of this has occurred," Offer said in the statement, which he released to ABC News. "A few days after the incident, Emile sought help and checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation facility, where he remains today, to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. Emile is continuing to cooperate fully with authorities."

Insurge Pictures did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Bernfeld.

Hirsch’s first court date is scheduled for March 16.