14 DAY TRIAL // Actor Alec Baldwin has always been very open about his anger management issues but, at the same time, about the hard work he's putting in to control his rage. The other day, he was beyond control, if one is to believe the photographer whom he attacked.
Two paparazzi for the New York Daily News had heard that the actor was out to get his marriage license, so they waited for him outside.
When he came out, he suddenly attacked them for the mere reason that they were there and without the slightest provocation, they say for the paper.
Marcus Santos and Jefferson Siegel both swear they did not get into the star's face and they certainly did nothing to provoke such a violent reaction.
They say he came at them out of the blue. He first tried to get Santos' camera and hurl it to the ground, which is when Siegel intervened.
For that, he got punched in the face and roughed up a bit, as the actor shoved him.
“He was looking mad. He said, 'Step back, step back.' I said, 'We’re moving back',” Santos says for the publication.
When Siegel noticed that his mate was in trouble, he tried to calm down spirits in his own way, i.e. by shouting at the already angry Alec not to touch Santos.
“I said, 'Don’t touch him.' I knew he was going to attack me. I stepped back, and he kept coming,” Siegel recalls.
“He comes after me, starts shoving and punching me – one time, right in the chin. And then he started shoving me, and pushing me. Then he goes the other way,” the photographer further says.
The actor, though, is painting a different picture of the events outside the city Marriage License Bureau: the pap almost hit him with his camera, so he just reacted, he writes on Twitter.
“A 'photographer' almost hit me in the face with his camera this morning. #allpaparazzishouldbewaterboarded,” the actor says on his Twitter feed.
“Ppl who work in the entertainment industry keep appts w the press on a regular basis. Paparazzi assaulting you on the street duznt count,” he adds, as if to counter all those saying that he's famous, he should have gotten used to the attention by now.
His rep has also told the press that he only defended himself and that the melee was caused by the pap who kept pushing people to get a clear shot of Baldwin.
An investigation is underway.