Nicholas Brendon of ‘Buffy’ arrested again, this time on suspicion of choking girlfriend

Nicholas Brendon has racked up his third arrest in the last year, getting nabbed in upstate New York on Wednesday after an alleged fight with a girlfriend.

The actor best known for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Criminal Minds” was taken into custody a little before midnight, according to the Albany Times Union, and later was charged with third-degree robbery, two counts of criminal mischief and one count of obstruction of breathing. The robbery charge is a felony.

The woman called police to a hotel in downtown Saratoga Springs around 11 p.m., the Associated Press reported, and alleged that when she tried to leave Brendon’s room, he grabbed her car keys and cellphone and started to choke her. He was arrested nearby.

A police spokesman told the Times Union that authorities had been called twice during the previous week to check on Brendon, and said that alcohol was involved the night the 44-year-old was arrested.

Brendon, who made $20,000 bail Thursday, is scheduled to appear Thursday at a $100-a-head meet-and-greet on Long Island, apparently timed to coincide with this year’s New York Comic Con, which starts that day in Manhattan.

It’s at fan events that Brendon, who played Xander Harris for seven seasons on “Buffy,” has gotten in trouble: In the last year, he’s also been arrested on suspicion of destructive behavior in hotels in Florida and Idaho.

He told psychologist Phil McGraw in August that his problems stemmed from depression and his combining of alcohol and sleeping pills. When the TV show host said he smelled alcohol on Brendon and asked him whether he’d been drinking before coming on “The Dr. Phil Show,” the actor walked off stage.

“When I was in that seat, I felt that Dr. Phil went for the jugular, talking about some of my recent mistakes, with no buildup,” the actor said at the time. “I felt that he wanted me to lay the darkest parts of myself on national TV right from the start, and I’m not willing to do that.”

Monday on Twitter, Brendon acknowledged his depression, saying he had “a touch of the anxiety” that day and adding, “let’s not lose sight of the fact that I’m a sexual abuse survivor. My heart goes out to all of you guys too.”

In a March interview after the Florida arrest, Brendon revealed that as a child he’d been molested for two years by a teacher.

“From that moment, my life changed immensely and I haven’t talked about it because I didn’t want to use it as a crutch, but I’m seeing as I get older that it did have a huge effect on me,” he told the Tallahassee Democrat.

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