Phone assault charge: Campbell strikes again?

VOLATILE supermodel Naomi Campbell was charged with assault yesterday after allegedly cracking her housekeeper over the head with a phone during an argument in her New York apartment.

British-born Campbell, 35, was taken into custody shortly after police went to Lenox Hill Hospital to investigate the alleged assault, according to the New York Police Department. She was charged with second-degree assault after questioning at the Midtown North Precinct, where scores of photographers, reporters and film crews awaited her exit. It was not the first time the British-born Campbell has had troubles with the law - in February 2000 she pleaded guilty in a Canadian court to assaulting her former assistant.

Campbell’s 41-year-old housekeeper, who was not identified by police, received four stitches to the head after the alleged incident, which took place at around 8am, and identified Campbell as her attacker. A spokesman for Campbell, Jr Johnson, denied the alleged assault, saying: “We believe this is a case of retaliation, because Naomi had fired her housekeeper earlier this morning.”