Sheen hospitalized after hotel outburst

Charlie Sheen was briefly hospitalized Tuesday after security at the Plaza Hotel in New York City called police to report he was disorderly and had broken furniture in his room, police said.

His publicist blamed an allergic reaction to medication, and said the actor was discharged Tuesday evening and on his way back to Los Angeles.

Sheen appeared highly intoxicated when officers arrivedat his room around 1:30 a.m. ET. Awoman with him saidthey had been out drinking and partying that night, according to a law enforcement official. She said he was yelling and tossing furniture when they returned to the room, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the encounter and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said hotel security reported Sheen was disorderly. The actor voluntarily went with authorities for a psychiatric evaluation.

"No arrests were made. It's not a complaint. He's being treated at a hospital," Kelly said.

The publicist, Stan Rosenfield, said the 45-year-old had an adverse allergic reaction to some medication. "Everything else is speculation," Rosenfield said.

It's not clear who the woman in the hotel room was. Sheen was in New York on a family vacation. His ex-wife, actress Denise Richards, and their two children, Sam, 6, and Lola, 5, also were staying at the hotel in a different room, the official said.

Troubled past

Police haven't received any complaints from the hotel about any possible damage. A message left with the historic hotel at the foot of Central Park wasn't returned.

Sheen, the star of CBS' Two and a Half Men, has had past problems with alcohol and drugs that have landed him in legal trouble.

In August, he pleaded guilty in Aspen, Colo., to misdemeanour third-degree assault after a Christmas Day altercation with his wife, Brooke Mueller Sheen. Prosecutors dropped more serious charges and he avoided jail time, instead being sentenced to 30 days in a rehabilitation centre, 30 days of probation and 36 hours of anger management.

Mueller Sheen, who is the mother of twins with Sheen, told police that the actor threatened to kill her and brandished a knife after she told him she wanted a divorce. Charlie Sheen said they argued but he denied threatening her, and he told police that he was upset by the divorce threat.

He previously went through a bitter divorce and custody battle with Richards. Her publicist said Tuesday she had no comment on Tuesday's hotel encounter.

In December 1996, Sheen was charged with attacking a girlfriend at his Southern California home. He later pleaded no contest and was placed on two years of probation.

In 1998, his father, actor Martin Sheen, turned him in for violating parole after a cocaine overdose sent him to the hospital. He was ordered to undergo a rehabilitation program.

On Two and a Half Men, TV's top-rated sitcom, Sheen plays a character named Charlie Harper, a freewheeling bachelor whose playboy lifestyle is complicated when his uptight brother and the brother's son move in. Sheen is also the star of films such as Platoon, Wall Street and Hot Shots!