Brian Bonsall,Another Child Actor Loses It

**malq** · December 15th, 2009, 04:36 AM

BOULDER, Colo. -- Former "Family Ties" actor Brian Bonsall has been charged with second-degree assault after police say he repeatedly hit a friend in the head with a broken wooden stool.

Bonsall could face between two and six years in prison if convicted of the charge that prosecutors filed Friday.

Bonsall, 28, was arrested Saturday and appeared briefly in a Boulder courtroom Wednesday morning. Police said he was involved in a fight at an apartment in the 1100 block of 11th Street in Boulder on Saturday. The victim told police that Bonsall hit him with a part of a broken wooden stool.

Bonsall allegedly told officers he had been drinking that night and didn't remember what had happened but identified the man who called police as his "best friend." Police had been called to the residence three times before they arrested Bonsall.

Police say Bonsall was also wanted on a warrant for missing a court hearing in 2007 on suspicion of violating bond conditions on another case. In that case, he had been sentenced to two years of probation for his girlfriend's assault.

Bonsall played the role of the youngest Keaton sibling, Andy, on the NBC sitcom starring Michael J. Fox.

He lived in Boulder for several years and graduated from Boulder High in 2000. He had several run-ins with authorities after that, including a 2004 arrest for drunken driving and an arrest in 2007 for assaulting his girlfriend.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...20/detail.html

**Aslan** · December 15th, 2009, 04:44 AM

I'd be pretty angry at the world too if I were added on as an attempt to getting ratings as 'obnoxious precocious kid' and it didn't work. Face it kiddo, you're no Alex P.

Is that a neck tattoo?

**Dneilz** · December 15th, 2009, 09:08 AM

Yup- and for some reason it reminds me of the cover for the silence of the lambs movie.... creepy

**backlash** · December 15th, 2009, 09:13 AM

That picture reeks of someone trying to prove that they are not a cute little kid anymore. I bet he's a cuddler...

**eracsurfer** · December 15th, 2009, 09:20 AM

Ok...I'm at work, so I'm lucky to even see his mug shot...Is that a BUTTERFLY as a neck tattoo????

How Gangsta can you get!? Does he have a unicorn tramp stamp too?

**Saffron** · December 15th, 2009, 09:44 AM

It must be all the toxins he sucked in wearing all the makeup to play a klingon boy on Star Trek:TNG.

**moonlilly1981** · December 15th, 2009, 09:47 AM

What man gets a butterfly tat let alone a butterfly neck tat?

**Saffron** · December 15th, 2009, 10:08 AM

If you go to TMZ and do a search on his name you can see a bigger picture of the tat... It's more of a scary moth... very silence-of-the-lambsian.

**Mom2three** · December 15th, 2009, 11:53 AM

He didn't age very well, did he?

**Saffron** · December 15th, 2009, 12:15 PM

I think that's more the product of alcohol and drugs and ugly neck tattoos than age.

**Valasca** · December 15th, 2009, 02:13 PM

No one told him he wasn't really a Klingon.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · April 8th, 2010, 07:36 PM

A former child TV star who assaulted his girlfriend in 2007, dodged police for more than a year, then assaulted his best friend and tested positive for marijuana was sentenced to two years of probation Thursday.

Brian Bonsall, 28, pleaded guilty Thursday to felony menacing and third-degree assault in connection with the 2009 case. He also pleaded guilty to violating his probation from the 2007 case, and was sentenced to 40 hours community service and five days in the Boulder County Jail's work-release program.

A Boulder County district judge agreed to give Bonsall a deferred sentence on the felony menacing charge, meaning that if he stays out of trouble for two years, the felony won't show up on his permanent record.

Bonsall's pleas on Thursday wrap up the numerous charges and cases he's had going for years. His attorney, Yasmin Forouzandeh, told the court that her client has significant substance abuse issues and asked that he be allowed to participate in the county's “integrated treatment court,” which focuses on rehabilitation instead of straight jail time. A judge will decide next week whether he's eligible for that program.

Bonsall, who most notably starred as Michael J. Fox's little brother Andy Keaton in the 1980s TV series “Family Ties,” lived in Boulder for several years – graduating from Boulder High in 2000 – before leaving town and skipping a court hearing in 2008.

Bonsall's parents were in the courtroom Thursday morning. Forouzandeh said they want to support him and don't want to enable his addiction and bad behavior.

http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_14844199