Los Angeles County deputies arrested former child star Jonathan Taylor Thomas on Monday after a traffic stop in Westlake Village, California, where he allegedly kicked a deputy in the stomach while officers tried to run field sobriety tests on the driver.

Thomas, 45, was booked at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station on obstruction and public intoxication charges. The LA County Sheriff's inmate information center listed the matter at a felony level. He was released the following day.

The case puts a familiar Hollywood name into a routine roadside DUI investigation that, according to deputies, spun out of control when a passenger refused to stay put. Public safety and lawful compliance during traffic stops sit at the center of the dispute.

The Daily Mail reported that it obtained a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department press release describing the stop and the arrest.

How the stop unfolded

Deputies said they saw a vehicle blocking traffic at an intersection in Westlake Village and pulled it over to check whether anyone needed help. Once on scene, they noticed the driver appeared intoxicated and was behaving oddly. That observation triggered a driving-under-the-influence investigation and field sobriety testing.

Thomas was a passenger. As the tests proceeded, deputies said he would not remain inside the car.

A press release obtained by the Daily Mail stated that Thomas "continually exited the vehicle and approached the deputies, distracting them from their investigation."

Deputies then moved to detain him for obstruction and public intoxication. The same release described what happened next.

"Deputies attempted to detain Weiss for obstruction and public intoxication, at which point, Weiss [Thomas] kicked a deputy in the stomach."

Officers transported Thomas to the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station for booking. The driver was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Authorities have not publicly confirmed whether the deputy suffered any injury.

A representative for Thomas had no comment when contacted. Investigators have not released a public case number, full unedited press release text, or named the arresting deputy in the material reviewed for this report.

Charges and release

Thomas faced obstruction and public intoxication counts after the Monday stop. County inmate records placed the charge at felony level. He walked out of custody the next day. No public results have been released about any further court filings, plea posture, or trial calendar.

The driver’s DUI case status also remains outside the public details provided so far. Deputies framed the passenger’s conduct as interference with an active roadside investigation, which is why the obstruction allegation sits beside the intoxication count.

Celebrity-adjacent criminal cases often draw quick attention, including matters such as a TV personality’s family member facing serious charges in Georgia, because they test whether well-known defendants receive the same roadside rules as everyone else.

From sitcom fame to SAG-AFTRA board work

Thomas became a household name on Home Improvement, which ran eight seasons from 1991 to 1999. He also voiced young Simba in The Lion King in 1994. He stepped away from acting in 2006, later returning for a four-episode guest run on Last Man Standing from 2013 through 2015. He has served as a national board member of SAG-AFTRA since 2017.

In a 2013 People interview referenced in coverage of his career path, he discussed pulling back from fame. Co-star Patricia Richardson has said she spoke with him and that he was not really interested in acting any longer and instead wants to direct and write.

Former castmate Tim Allen has spoken publicly about revival talk and what he called personality problems among the younger co-stars. Allen said: "They keep talking about how it could move forward, but they get stuck [because] there are some personality problems right now with the boys."

He added: "They’ve got their own issues. I always thought it would be cool if it was a story about them. That’s a little challenging right now, to put it mildly."

Other Home Improvement alumni have faced their own legal headlines. Zachery Ty Bryan has a string of arrests for offenses such as domestic violence and DUI, while Taran Noah Smith left show business after 1999 and later pursued ventures that included a vegan restaurant and a company teaching people to pilot submarines.

Coverage of a former TV sitcom child star arrested on intoxication and resisting-related counts in California fits a broader pattern of early-fame actors meeting adult criminal process long after the cameras stopped.

What investigators still must pin down

Authorities have not publicly confirmed the precise calendar date behind the relative “Monday” arrest label, the exact time of the stop, or the specific statute language supporting the felony-level notation in inmate records. They have also not stated Thomas’s full legal-name status regarding the “Weiss” reference used in the press release language.

Prosecutors, if they proceed, will need to determine whether the alleged kick and repeated exits from the car meet the elements of obstruction under California law, and whether the public intoxication count stands on independent evidence. Body-worn camera video, deputy reports, and any civilian witnesses at the intersection would ordinarily drive that review. None of those materials have been released in the account available here.

The sequence deputies describe is straightforward on paper: a blocked intersection, a suspected impaired driver, field tests, a passenger who kept approaching officers, an attempt to detain, then an alleged kick to the stomach. Each step carries legal weight because traffic stops demand clear lanes of authority and compliance so officers can finish impaired-driving checks without interference.

Institutional stakes on a California roadside

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies initiated the contact as a welfare-style stop after spotting a car blocking traffic. The shift to a DUI investigation followed observed signs of intoxication. The passenger arrest followed alleged interference and the reported kick. That progression is the official account set out in the press release obtained by the Daily Mail.

Thomas’s rapid release the next day does not erase the booking or the felony-level notation in county records. It does mean the next public chapter, if any, will arrive in charging documents or court appearances that have not yet been detailed in the material at hand.

Lawful orders during a DUI stop exist so deputies can finish sobriety testing without distraction or assault. When a passenger turns a roadside check into a detention fight, the public interest is simple: officers must be able to do the job without taking a boot to the gut.