Fifth Man Charged in Denny Case : Riots: He allegedly spat at trucker. Suspect also is charged with assault and robbery of another driver.

Prosecutors charged a fifth suspect Thursday in the April 29 attack on truck driver Reginald O. Denny at the intersection of Florence and Normandie avenues, where 12 other people also were beaten.

Anthony Lamar Brown, 24, of Los Angeles, also was charged with felony assault and robbery of another motorist, Manuel Vaca, one of the 12 people assaulted. According to investigators, Brown kicked Vaca and stole a chain and a ring from him.

Brown was arraigned late Thursday and was being held on $250,000 bail. He smiled and chatted with a sheriff’s deputy before and after a brief session with Municipal Judge William R. Chidsey.

Brown’s arrest makes him the latest suspect to be jailed in connection with the Florence and Normandie attacks, which erupted just hours after a Simi Valley jury returned not guilty verdicts in the trial of four police officers who beat Rodney G. King. The assaults, which were shown live on television, have become a symbol of the rage and unrest that overwhelmed the city for days.

“Brown was arrested without incident Tuesday night,” said Special Agent Jim Neilson, a spokesman for the FBI, which is one of the agencies participating in a federal-local law enforcement task force on riot-related crimes. “He was taken in near his residence in South-Central.”

Brown, who police say goes by the nickname “Ant Dog,” was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery for spitting at Denny after the trucker was beaten. In a videotape of the assault recorded by a KCOP-Channel 13 helicopter, the man who police say is Brown spits at the truck driver, then stands back and makes a gang symbol toward the hovering camera.

Most of the court appearances for the Denny suspects have been volatile affairs, with dozens of supporters crowded into the courtroom and scuffles occasionally breaking out in the hallways. Thursday, however, Brown’s arraignment took just minutes, and no residents of the community were on hand to speak up for him.

Supporters of the Denny suspects have dubbed them the “L.A. 4” and printed T-shirts urging fair treatment for them. As he left Thursday’s hearing, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence C. Morrison noted that Brown’s arrest raises that number to five.