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LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles woman who was driving a car that Lindsay Lohan is accused of chasing through city streets in July is suing the troubled actress, claiming her behaviour could have caused injury or death.
Tracie Rice is seeking unspecified damages for assault and infliction of emotional distress by the 21-year-old actress, who was arrested and accused of criminal drunken driving and drug possession after the predawn chase.
"What Miss Lohan did that night was extremely dangerous and reprehensible. Someone could easily have been killed or seriously hurt because of her irresponsible decisions," Rice said in a statement released by her Los Angeles attorneys.
Lohan was arrested in the early morning hours of July 24 by police in Santa Monica, California, a beach community in Los Angeles County. It was the second time the actress had been charged with drunken driving in recent weeks.
The lawsuit said Rice was a passenger in a car driven by Michelle Peck, the mother of Lohan's personal assistant who quit working for the actress only hours earlier.
The suit describes a high-speed car chase during which Rice and Peck believed they could be carjacked or shot at.
"Plaintiff was convinced that their lives were in danger and that they had to outrun the pursuing car or they might be killed," the suit said.
Peck led the car Lohan allegedly was driving directly to the Santa Monica police station, where officers questioned all involved and arrested Lohan.
The actress was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, cocaine possession, bringing a controlled substance into custody and driving on a suspended license.
At the time, Lohan was wearing an alcohol monitoring bracelet following a recent stint in a rehabilitation clinic, and her lawyer issued a statement saying the actress suffered a relapse and was receiving medical care.
Lohan's spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment on the lawsuit.
Lohan, whose recent movies Georgia Rule and I Know Who Killed Me, bombed at box offices, crashed her car in May and was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. She entered a 45-day rehabilitation program and was released in mid-July, only days before the car chase.
She shot to stardom as a child actress in Disney movies such as The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday.
- REUTERS
