The Vines Singer Arrested For Assault

The Vines frontman Craig Nicholls was arrested Saturday after police were called to the home he lived at with his family in Connells Point, New South Wales, Australia. The 35-year-old musician is accused of punching his mother in the head and injuring a police officer.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Nicholls was “charged with five offences, including two counts of domestic assault, stalking or intimidation, resisting arrest and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.”

Police used pepper spray on Nicholls to subdue the singer/songwriter/guitarist after he allegedly tried to run away from police.

Photo: Phil Bonyata / concertlivewire.com

Craig Nicholls of The Vines strikes a familiar rock star pose at The Rave in Milwaukee.

“He tried to evade police and [a] violent struggle ensued,” Hurstville police inspector Robert Duncan told the Sydney Morning Herald. “A police officer suffered grazes, cuts and bruises to both elbows and knees and was treated at St George Hospital.”

The paper notes that Nicholls’ parents took out an AVO, an injunction in the state of New South Wales that stands for apprehended violence order. The frontman is due to appear before Sutherland Local Court Wednesday.

Nicholls previously made news for a violent incident in 2004 when he was accused of allegedly kicking a photographer and damaging her camera during a radio show in Sydney, Australia. When he appeared in court to address the assault charges, the singer revealed he had recently been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism. Rolling Stone points out that the charges were dismissed under the condition that Nicholls continue to seek treatment for Asperger’s.

In 2008 The Vines canceled dates via a statement that said the frontman’s “mental condition has deteriorated extremely rapidly over the past month to the point where he requires immediate help over an extended period of time.”