Gerard Butler charged with battery in LA

In this Feb. 22, 2009, file photo, actor Gerard Butler poses on the press line at the Elton John Academy Award viewing and after party in West Hollywood, Calif. [Agencies]

LOS ANGELES – City prosecutors have charged Gerard Butler with misdemeanor battery in connection with a scuffle with a paparazzo.

Records show prosecutors filed the charge in a Hollywood courthouse on Wednesday.

Los Angeles City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said Butler faces up to six months in jail if convicted.

Mateljan said the Scottish-born actor had a run-in with a photographer early on Oct. 7 in Hollywood after leaving a premiere party for the film "RocknRolla."

Butler's manager, Alan Siegel, said that the actor was forced to have his driver stop the car after a paparazzo repeatedly sped through red lights and almost struck two pedestrians.

The actor's attorney, Blair Berk, said Butler is not required to — and won't — appear in court on the charge.

Butler, 39, is perhaps best-known for his role in 2006's hit "300," and starred in "RocknRolla." Butler's next big screen release will be this summer's "The Ugly Truth," a romantic comedy also starring Katherine Heigl.