May 12, 1963 - Former movie tough guy Lawrence Tierney (pictured top in 1951 and bottom in 1958 after assaulting two NYPD officers), out of jail just a few hours after an arrest for drunkenness, was back behind bars today for his part in a bloody crockery-throwing duel at a Hollywood lunch counter. Police booked him on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Investigators said Tierney, 44, caused a disturbance in a drugstore at 6637 Hollywood Blvd. and hit waiter Peter Dzelebdzic, 55, in the face with a sugar bowl. Dzelebdzic then conked Tierney in the back of the head with a metal cream dispenser. Both men required stitches to close their head wounds. Dzelebdzic filed an assault charge, and officers arrested the ex-actor, who was found sleeping in his room at 1738 N. Las Palmas Ave. Tierney's numerous arrests for being drunk and disorderly and his jail terms for assault on civilians and lawmen alike took a toll on his career. Between 1944 and 1951, Tierney was arrested over 12 times in Los Angeles for brawling, for drunkenness — which included ripping a public telephone off a wall in a bar — and for attempting to choke a taxi driver. He had legal troubles in other cities as well, including a 90-day jail sentence in 1951 for breaking a New York college student's jaw during a barroom brawl. He served 66 days in the city jail in Chicago in 1952 for drunk and disorderly charges. In October 1951, he was sent to a Chicago mental hospital after being found disheveled in a church. In New York City, he was arrested for assault and battery of a barroom pianist in August 1953 and again in October 1958 for resisting arrest and assaulting two police officers in another barroom brawl.
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