International News

By Chris Francescani

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. actress Amanda Bynes was arrested in New York City on Thursday after she allegedly threw a bong out the window of a midtown Manhattan apartment building, a police official said.

New York police received a call on Thursday night from an employee at the 47th Street high-rise building where Bynes lives, said NYPD spokesman Detective Brian Sessa.

The employee reported that someone was smoking marijuana in the lobby.

When police arrived, they were directed to Bynes' apartment, where the actress invited police in, Sessa said.

Officers detected a strong smell of marijuana in the apartment and observed the bong - a tube-shaped water pipe commonly used for smoking marijuana - in the apartment, according to Sessa.

Bynes grabbed the bong and threw it out the window, he said. The actress lives on the 36th floor, The New York Daily News reported.

Bynes, 27, a former child star who had her own TV comedy sketch show on Nickelodeon at age 13, was taken into custody and charged with tampering with physical evidence, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of marijuana.

She pleaded no contest earlier this month in California to driving with a suspended license, according to The Los Angeles Times, one of a number of recent run-ins with the law.

(Reporting By Chris Francescani; Editing by Xavier Briand)