GARY COLEMAN ASSAULT TRIAL
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(Court TV) — Does Gary Coleman have a temper, or some very rude fans?

On July 30, 1998, the diminutive former child actor, now 30, was shopping for a bulletproof vest at the California Uniform Shop on Hawthorne Boulevard in Hawthorne, Calif., apparently for his job as a security guard. Tracy Fields, a bus driver for the Los Angeles-area Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was also shopping at the store and recognized Coleman.

She asked the former star of "Diff'rent Strokes" for an autograph. Coleman complied, but Fields apparently wanted more. She allegedly asked Coleman to personalize the autograph for her 10-year-old son.

Something about her request did not sit well with Coleman. He either allegedly told Fields she had an attitude or personalized her autograph with racially offensive comments, according to various reports. Fields then told Coleman that he had an attitude and that his attitude might account for his lackluster acting career in recent years.

Gary Coleman's attorney gives one version of the "attack." (3:45)

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Her retort hit a nerve with Coleman, Fields claims, and he allegedly snatched the autograph, ripped it up and slugged Fields in the eye. Fields stumbled back into a gumball machine, but Coleman allegedly continued to pummel her until an off-duty Los Angeles airport police officer pulled the two apart.

What you talkin' 'bout? claimed Coleman's publicist, who said that Fields swung first. Coleman's lawyers are expected to argue he acted in self-defense.

Coleman turned himself in to the Hawthorne police the following day and was charged with battery, a misdemeanor charge. Days after the altercation, Fields filed a $1 million civil suit against Coleman, claiming the fight gave her headaches, muscle spasms and insomnia. Her civil suit is pending.

Coleman's trial is expected to take two days. Fields is expected to tell her version of events, and Coleman may do the same. If Coleman is found guilty, he faces up to six months in prison and a $2,000 fine.

He would also join his former co-stars in an infamous clique: Todd Bridges, who played his brother Willis on "Diff'rent Strokes," has been arrested several times, was convicted of drug possession and was accused but acquitted of attempted murder; Dana Plato, who played Kimberly Drummond on the show, was arrested and placed on probation for attempted robbery in January 1992 after she tried to hold up a video store.

Coleman played Arnold Drummond on the show, which ran from November 1978 to August 1986. He and Bridges played two black brothers who were sent to live with wealthy white Park Avenue widower Philip Drummond and his daughter Kimberly.

Coleman's short stature is the result of a lifelong battle with kidney problems. The Zion, Illinois native had his first kidney transplant in 1973; his second in 1984. He requires constant dialysis.

Like Coleman, his co-stars have not met with much recent acting success. In recent years, Bridges has taken roles in minor films such as 1998's The Thief and the Stripper. Plato posed for Playboy magazine, was featured in the 1992 video game "Night Trap" and has more recently been seen topless in the 1997 film Different Strokes, which featured the following tagline: "The Story of Jack & Jill ... and Jill."

Coleman's most recent acting credit was as "Hallucination Guy" in the 1998 Bob Saget-directed comedy Dirty Work, alongside stars Norm Macdonald, Don Rickles and Chevy Chase.

—Jon Bonné

Reported by Court TV's Beth Karas.

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