Matthew Newton, Australian actor, arrested outside Miami nightspot

Australian actor Matthew Newton has been arrested outside a Miami nightspot after allegedly being drunk and abusive, and for resisting police.

According to Australia's Fairfax media, Newton was heard yelling at the police that they had something against Australians before they wrestled him to the ground during outside Moe's Restaurant and Bar in Coconut Grove.

The actor — well known in Australia for his performances in local films and TV series' and as the son of TV personality Bert Newton — has been a fixture in the media here owing to his alleged violence towards his former fiancee, actress Rachael Taylor, who initiated legal action and another former girlfriend, actress Brooke Satchwell.

In a 2011 TV interview he described himself as a "walking time bomb" who had had wanted to kill himself as he struggled with post-traumatic stress, obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar depression.

His arrest in America comes just two weeks after he was ordered to return home to Australia to face charges he assaulted a Sydney taxi driver on Dec. 4 last year, according to NineMSN.

When Newton failed to appear in court for a hearing into the assault case, his lawyer Chris Murphy told the Australian magistrate that the actor was living in a "peaceful, Midwestern community" in the US.

"The aim for this young man is to find himself a quiet community he can live in. He just needs to have some normalcy," Murphy said, according to the Murdoch press.

Murphy said Newton was taking a "bomb load" of medication every day and had been struggling with the side effects of the drugs at the time of the alleged attack on the taxi driver.

Murphy failed in a bid to have the charge dealt with under the Mental Health Act.

Murphy, confirmed the Miami arrest on Twitter, saying the troubled actor was in Miami to attend arranged appointments with medical experts.

He denied drugs and alcohol were a factor in the arrest.

However, Jason, the bar manager of Moe's, told Fairfax that the actor was very drunk and had only consumed one beer when he started to bother other customers early on Saturday morning.

"He was belligerent and really drunk," Jason reportedly said.

"Police asked him politely to leave and in the end they tackled him," he said. "He was pissed off and saying to the cops that they were being prejudicial to Australians."

Jason said that Newton's friends had tried to convince him to leave, but he had become troublesome and started resisting arrest and hanging onto the outdoor tables.

A Miami-Dade County jail official told the Associated Press that the 35-year-old Newton was released Saturday evening on $2,000 bond.

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