Kim Delaney, the actress who played tough cop Diane Russell on NYPD Blue, got into big trouble on Saturday, March 29, 2025. She and her husband, James Morgan, were arrested at their home in Marina del Rey, a beachside spot near Los Angeles, after a fight that cops say turned physical. Delaney’s facing a felony assault charge—assault with a deadly weapon—while Morgan got nabbed for battery. It’s a messy turn for the Emmy-winning star, and everyone’s waiting to hear her side.
The call came in just before 10 a.m. Saturday. Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Marina del Rey Station rushed to Delaney’s place after someone reported a loud argument, says CBS Los Angeles. When they got there, things had already gone bad. “It was a heated argument that turned physical,” a sheriff’s spokesperson told. Paramedics checked both Delaney and Morgan for bumps and bruises—nothing serious enough to need a hospital, but enough to show it wasn’t just yelling. After digging into it, cops arrested Delaney, 65, at 10:15 a.m. for felony assault likely to cause great bodily injury, and Morgan, 54, at 9:45 a.m. for misdemeanor domestic violence.
Details are thin, but the “deadly weapon” charge means something more than fists was involved—maybe a knife, a heavy object, anything that could really hurt. Morgan’s battery charge points to him hitting her too. They’ve been married since 2022—celebrating two years last October—and this is the first big blowup anyone’s heard about. By Sunday afternoon, Morgan had bonded out of jail, posting $500 bail, but Delaney was still behind bars as of 2:30 p.m. PST, says Us Weekly. Her next court date’s set for April 1 in Los Angeles, per the LAPD.
Delaney’s team hasn’t said a word yet—reps didn’t answer calls. Morgan’s side’s quiet too. Posts on social media—like one from saying she was “thrown in the clink”—played up the irony: the woman who locked up bad guys on NYPD Blue for 137 episodes now in cuffs herself. She won an Emmy in 1997 for that role, and fans loved her on Army Wives and All My Children too. But trouble’s followed her before—more on that in a bit. Saturday’s arrest shook up fans. “She was supposed to be smart about it,” one X user, posted, hinting Morgan dragged her down. Others just shared the news with #Domesticviolence tags, stunned a TV cop could end up here. The sheriff’s folks won’t say more till the case moves—right now, it’s he-said-she-said with handcuffs on both.
This isn’t Delaney’s first run-in with the law. Back in 2002, she got busted in Malibu for drunk driving—cops pulled her over for swerving and she wouldn’t take a breath test. She pleaded no contest, got two years’ probation, a fine, and a driving class. In 2003, she checked into rehab for alcohol struggles, and in 2005, her son Jack said in court he had to ride with her drunk, costing her custody. Last year, a motorcyclist sued her over a 2022 hit-and-run crash—says she smashed his bike and took off. She got 50 hours of community service for that in April 2024.