Key Takeaways
- Jonathan Taylor Thomas allegedly disrupted deputies’ DUI investigation in Westlake Village and kicked one deputy in the stomach as they tried to detain him for suspected obstruction and public intoxication.
- Authorities booked the 45-year-old Home Improvement star at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station and released him the next day, while records later classified the incident as a detention rather than an arrest.
- No charges had been filed, but the sheriff’s department planned to send the case to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office for consideration.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who played Randy Taylor on Home Improvement, was detained after allegedly kicking a sheriff’s deputy during a DUI investigation in Westlake Village, California. The 45-year-old actor was a passenger when deputies encountered the vehicle early Monday, September 21. Authorities say he repeatedly interrupted their investigation before the alleged kick.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, deputies found the car stopped at a green light and approached to check on the driver, who appeared intoxicated. As they conducted field sobriety tests, Thomas allegedly kept getting out of the passenger seat and approaching them. The department said he “appeared intoxicated” and distracted deputies from their work.
When they attempted to detain him on suspicion of obstruction and public intoxication, authorities allege, he kicked a deputy in the stomach. The driver was also arrested on suspicion of DUI.
Thomas was booked at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station and released on Tuesday, September 22. As of this writing, no criminal charges had been filed; the sheriff’s department said it planned to submit the case to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office for consideration.
The Los Angeles Times reported that booking records reclassified the incident as a detention rather than an arrest.
The news comes less than two months after a rare public appearance brought Thomas back into the Home Improvement conversation. In July, Patricia Richardson posted a photo with Thomas and Taran Noah Smith, who played two of her sons on the ABC sitcom. “My other boys,” she captioned it.
Richardson played Jill Taylor; Thomas played Randy, the middle son, across the show’s 1991–99 run.
Thomas’s fame extended well beyond the sitcom. He voiced young Simba in Disney’s 1994 film The Lion King and starred in movies including Tom and Huck. He left Home Improvement before its final season ended and later attended Harvard, Columbia, and the University of St. Andrews.
Explaining his decision to step back, Thomas said in 2013, “I’d been going nonstop since I was 8 years old. I wanted to go to school, to travel and have a bit of a break.”
He later reunited with TV father Tim Allen on Last Man Standing.
