Actor Jeremy London pleads not guilty to spousal battery

(CBS) INDIO, Calif. - Actor Jeremy London pleaded not guilty to spousal battery Thursday for allegedly roughing up his estranged wife in an argument about their young son.

London, 39, who appeared on television shows including "Party of Five" and "Seventh Heaven," was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery of a spouse or cohabitant, reports CBS Los Angeles. The judge in Riverside County issued a restraining order against him requiring that he have no contact with his wife, identified in the complaint as "Jane Doe."

He is due back in court on March 15 for a pretrial hearing. London could face up to a year in county jail if convicted of the battery charge.

The alleged victim called Palm Springs police the morning of Nov. 18 to claim that London hurt her when they were outside London's car while their son was in the vehicle, Palm Springs police Detective Michael Studer wrote in a declaration in support of arrest filed Monday.

Struder wrote that London, who had stayed overnight at the home, put the couple's son into his car and said he was taking the boy to breakfast.

"(She) said (their son) was yelling, "I don't want to go,' " Studer wrote.

When the woman grabbed London's backpack from his car in attempt to stop them from leaving, "London grabbed her by her hair, pulling her to the ground," Studer wrote. "... London hit her several times on the side of the head in an attempt to take the backpack away. (She) said eventually she let go of the backpack and got up off the ground to get (the boy) out of the car."

London left after the incident, and the 5-year-old boy told a police officer that his father pulled his mother's hair, and said "My dad was a bad boy," wrote Studer.

London married Melissa Cunningham in 2006. The couple is separated but they have a child together.

The woman who called police said she had been separated from London for two years. She had been unable to divorce him for financial reasons. It was also due to the fact that he wouldn't sign the paperwork, Studer wrote.

London made headlines in June 2010 when he said he was kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint and forced to buy drugs and alcohol before escaping. One of the men involved later pleaded guilty to a felony charge of false imprisonment and was sentenced to 16 months in prison, but was released the day he entered the plea because of time served and other credits, according to court records.