NEW YORK – Lindsay Lohan was arrested in New York early Wednesday on charges that she clipped a pedestrian with her car and did not stop driving, but her publicist said he expects the allegations to be proven false.

The 26-year-old actress was arrested at 2:25 a.m. as she left a nightclub at the Dream Hotel in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, police said. They said no alcohol was involved.

Lohan was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and causing injury. She was given a ticket and is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 23.

Police said Lohan was slowly driving a black Porsche through an alley between the Dream Hotel and the Maritime Hotel on 16th Street when the accident occurred. The victim called 911. He was treated at a hospital for a knee injury and released.

“We are confident this matter will be cleared up in the coming weeks and the claims being made against Lindsay will be proven untrue,” Lohan’s publicist, Steve Honig, wrote in an email. He said the incident appeared to be “much ado about nothing.”

It was the latest car accident involving Lohan. On June 8, she was involved in a crash in California that sent her and her assistant to a hospital. They were on their way to a shoot for the film “Liz and Dick” when Lohan’s Porsche collided with a dump truck on the Pacific Coast Highway. Neither was seriously injured and Lohan resumed shooting later in the day.

The accident remains under investigation; police have said they are trying to determine who was driving.

The actress, best known for roles in “Freaky Friday” and “Mean Girls,” was cleared in May of allegations that she struck a Hollywood nightclub manager with her car. Los Angeles prosecutors refused to file charges, stating there was no evidence an accident occurred and citing doubts about the manager’s credibility.

Lohan remains on informal probation for taking a necklace last year from a jewelry store without permission. She completed a strict counseling and morgue cleanup duty program implemented by a judge. She is not required to check in with a judge or probation officer.

Lohan recently filmed “The Canyons,” a film by “Less Than Zero” author Bret Easton Ellis. “The Canyons” has Lohan playing opposite James Deen, who is best known as an adult film star with thousands of movies to his credit.

Pick your pundit: Stewart, O’Reilly to debate

NEW YORK – Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart will face off for a special 90-minute debate, dubbed “The Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium,” about the 2012 presidential race.

The live debate between the host of Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” and the anchor of Comedy Central’s fake newscast “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” will be streamed online Oct. 6 from George Washington University. The price is $4.95, with half of the profits donated to unspecified charities.

In a written statement, Stewart quipped that “The Rumble” will be entertaining for all, including “people who just enjoy yelling.”

Publications fail to resist topless Kate

COPENHAGEN – A Swedish celebrity magazine published topless photos of Britain’s likely future queen Wednesday, and its sister publication in Denmark said it would do the same later this week.

The unauthorized photos have already been widely published in France, Italy, Ireland and on the Internet, despite efforts by Prince William and Kate Middleton to halt their usage.

The latest publication in Sweden’s Se & Hor came as French police opened a criminal investigation into whether the photos — which first appeared in an edition of the French Closer magazine — were an invasion of privacy.

“It is nothing new to us to publish nude photos of celebrities on holiday,” said Carina Lofkvist, chief editor of the Swedish magazine.

She said actresses Demi Moore and Sharon Stone have done it, and model Kate Moss has previously appeared half-naked in the magazine.

“No one complains when they do and we print the photos,” Lofkvist said.

A photographer trained a long lens on the royal couple as they sunbathed on a private estate in southern France.

– From news service reports