New York City police on Wednesday were investigating a fashion designer's claim that actor Kiefer Sutherland head-butted him at a Manhattan nightclub.

In this Jan. 25, 2009 file photo, Kiefer Sutherland arrives at the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles.

Jack McCollough, of the Proenza Schouler fashion house, said the incident happened around 2 a.m. Tuesday, reportedly at the club SubMercer in SoHo, and claimed he was cut on his face.

McCollough claimed Sutherland, star of Fox television's "24," attacked him after an argument, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

The official said detectives plan to question Sutherland before the end of this week and might question actress Brooke Shields as a witness.

Nobody has been arrested.

Calls to representatives for Sutherland, McCollough and Shields weren't immediately returned.

Sutherland was released from a Glendale, Calif., jail last year after serving 48 days on a drunken driving charge. He had pleaded no contest to driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of 0.08 percent. He was sentenced to 30 days, as well as 18 days for violating probation in a 2004 drunken driving arrest.

(China Daily/Agencies May 7, 2009)