Keanu Reeves cleared of assault charges

Washington (ANI): Canadian actor Keanu Reeves has been cleared of assault and battery charges brought about by a paparazzo, who alleged that he tried to run her over with his car. Snapper Alison Silva had claimed that Reeves' Porsche struck her in March 2007, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elizabeth A. Grimes ruled that she could not seek punitive damages against the actor.

But Reeves' attorneys stated in the court documents that Silva had placed her hand on the actor's car and tripped while she was trying to take candid shots of him. And in a signed declaration, Reeves revealed that he stopped the car after Silva had fallen and brought the photographer water, and that she also told him that it was an accident.

"I am a paparazzo. He is a movie star. It was an accident!" Contactmusic quoted Reeves as recounting Silva as saying, in the court documents. Hearing both sides of the argument, Judge Grimes on September 22 ruled in favour of Reeves, stating that the actor did not act maliciously. Silva, who claimed that her wrist was fractured in a fall after coming into contact with Reeves' Porsche, has already undergone one unsuccessful surgery and is scheduled for another.