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‘Home Improvement’ Star Zachery Ty Bryan Sentenced To Probation After Pleading Guilty To Assaulting Girlfriend

Zachery Ty Bryan was accused of choking his girlfriend in October, reportedly in a dispute over phone chargers.

By Sharon Lynn Pruitt
'Home Improvement' Star Allegedly Strangled Girlfriend

Former “Home Improvement” star Zachery Ty Bryan pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend last year and has been sentenced to probation.

The Lane County District Attorney in Eugene, Oregon has confirmed that Bryan, 39, was sentenced to 36 months of bench probation after pleading guilty on Tuesday to two felony counts of menacing and assault in the fourth degree constituting domestic violence, PEOPLE reports. The conditions of his plea deal include stipulations that Bryan attend an intervention program and refrain from contacting the victim, among other things.

Officers with the Eugene Police Department responded to an apartment complex in the North Eugene area on the evening of Oct. 16 to investigate a physical altercation and found Bryan sitting outside while his girlfriend was in a different apartment, USA Today previously reported. Bryan was accused of assaulting his girlfriend, cutting off her breathing, and then taking her phone from her when she tried to call 911 for help.

Zachery Ty Bryan G

Bryan’s girlfriend told police that the assault started when Bryan woke her up and then pulled her out of bed by her hair, according to court documents obtained by TMZ last year. She said he began assaulting her while shouting at her about phone chargers and choked her so hard that she thought that she was going to die, according to TMZ. She also alleged that the October 2020 incident wasn’t the first time that Bryan had been physically abusive towards her, stating that he’d been assaulting her for the last month and hit her in the head and face multiple times the week before his arrest.

When police arrived on the scene, they observed signs of physical battery on Bryan’s girlfriend and when questioned, Bryan was reluctant to talk about what happened and instead accused the victim of trying to retaliate against him because he was going to break up with her, police said, according to TMZ.

At his arraignment, Bryan was charged with menacing, harassment, coercion, assault, felony strangulation, and interfering with making a report, the Lane County District Attorney’s Office confirmed at the time. However, many of those charges were dropped, leaving only the menacing and assault charges, a decision that was made in the best interest of the victim, officials said.

"While Mr. Bryan was charged with additional crimes, including two class C felonies, it is in the interest of closure for the victim and in recognition of the backlog of cases we have due to COVID restrictions that make me believe this resolution is in the interest of justice," the Lane County District Attorney’s Office told PEOPLE.

Bryan has not commented publicly on his case.

The former child star rose to fame playing the oldest son of Tim Allen’s lead character on the hit '90s sitcom “Home Improvement.” He’s appeared in a number of notable TV shows and films since then, including 2006’s “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” but seems to have focused on being a producer in recent years. His executive producing credits include the 2018 film “The Kindergarten Teacher,” which starred actress Maggie Gyllenhaal.  

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