LOS ANGELES — Rafael Manvelyan was about halfway through the ride when his passenger, who smelled of alcohol and had gone quiet, suddenly turned violent.
According to a civil lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles, the actor Kiefer Sutherland — 59, a two-time Golden Globe winner best known for playing counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer across nine seasons of 24 — punched Manvelyan repeatedly with closed fists in the head, face, neck, and upper body while the driver was still at the wheel. He then put Manvelyan in a chokehold and threatened to kill him. When Manvelyan stopped the car and fled on foot, Sutherland allegedly followed him down the street, still shouting.
Manvelyan, whose first language is Russian and Armenian, had limited English. Sources familiar with the incident say the communication gap is what triggered Sutherland’s agitation. The lawsuit claims he was visibly intoxicated and verbally abusive before the physical attack began. A dashcam, the suit alleges, captured at least portions of what happened. Officers who responded noted visible bruising and swelling on Manvelyan’s forehead when they arrived.
The incident happened on January 12, 2026, around 12:15 in the morning, near Sunset Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Hollywood. Sutherland was arrested on suspicion of criminal threats and posted a $50,000 bond. ABC News first reported the arrest details after law enforcement confirmed the incident. The criminal charge was later dropped following a settlement.
On Thursday, Manvelyan’s attorney Mitra Sabouri filed the civil suit. The counts are assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence. The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
By Friday, Sutherland had a legal response. His attorney Andrew Brettler said Sutherland was in fact the victim — of a driver who, upon discovering his passenger was a celebrity, sought to “embellish and exaggerate his claims” and demand “millions of dollars.” Sutherland, Brettler said, “intends to fight this suit.” Fox News reported on the broader incident and its timeline following the January arrest.
Two accounts of the same car ride. One says a famous actor punched and choked a working driver in the Hollywood streets in the early morning hours. The other says the driver saw opportunity and inflated what happened. Civil court will eventually have to pick one.
What received less attention than the arrest was a detail that surfaced shortly afterward: someone from Sutherland’s inner circle described the January incident as “a call for help.” The implication was not of an aggressive man but of one in genuine distress. Sutherland has not spoken publicly about that framing or what, if anything, followed from it.
The broader backdrop makes the story harder to look away from. Sutherland built 24 into one of the defining American television series of the 2000s — a show about a man who could survive anything through discipline and force of will. He won a SAG Award, a Golden Globe, and a Primetime Emmy playing Jack Bauer. That character’s defining quality was self-control under pressure. The contrast with a chaotic, allegedly intoxicated midnight confrontation on a Hollywood street is not subtle, and nobody pretends it is.
Sutherland has spoken publicly in the past about his relationship with alcohol. A DUI arrest in 2007 resulted in 48 days in a Glendale jail. At the time he said he had decided to stop drinking, a commitment he described as serious. Whether sobriety remained intact before the January incident is not something he or his representatives have addressed.
Manvelyan says he suffered injuries to his head, face, neck, spine, and shoulder. The negligence count in the civil suit — somewhat unusual in an assault context — likely relates to the duty of care a passenger holds toward a driver operating a vehicle. Attacking someone controlling a moving car creates physical danger beyond the assault itself.
Under California law, intentional infliction of emotional distress requires conduct described as outrageous that causes severe harm. A chokehold while threatening to kill someone, if proven, would satisfy that standard without much legal strain.
Sutherland’s legal team has not offered its own account of what actually happened inside the car. Brettler’s Friday statement focused entirely on the driver’s alleged motives, not the events themselves. That is a familiar legal posture — contest intent and credibility rather than narrative — but it leaves the central factual dispute open.
The civil case will move on its own timeline. Manvelyan’s dashcam footage, if it survives discovery and if it shows what the lawsuit claims, may ultimately determine which version of this story holds up. Until then, a driver who says he was punched and choked and a movie star’s lawyer who calls that driver an opportunist will both be on record, waiting.
