Police: Alec Baldwin Arrested After Riding Bike Wrong Way On Fifth Avenue
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There was new trouble for Alec Baldwin Tuesday, as police said the actor was arrested and issued two summonses when he acted belligerently toward two officers who had stopped him for riding his bike the wrong way down the street.
As CBS 2's Kathryn Brown reported, Baldwin returned to his Greenwich Village apartment pushing his bicycle Tuesday afternoon. It was the same bicycle that he was allegedly riding the wrong way down Fifth Avenue, at 16th Street, around 10:15 a.m.
Two officers stopped Baldwin after they spotted him riding his bike the wrong way against traffic near Union Square Park, police said.
When Baldwin could not hand over a photo ID, they handcuffed him, loaded him into the back of a patrol car, took him to the 13th Precinct station in Gramercy Park, and seized the bicycle.
Eddie Cacho said he saw it all.
"He looked kind of disheveled and kind of annoyed. He was straddling his bike," Cacho said, "and as I was coming around the corner, I could see one of the female officers grabbing his arms and pulling the handcuffs on him."
Police said Baldwin was belligerent, mouthing off insults at the two female officers.
"I didn't hear anything from him; just the officers," Cacho said. "You know, 'Put your arms behind your back.'"
A photo posted online by In Touch Weekly shows the actor standing next to a police cruiser in handcuffs with a bike leaning up against the back of the squad car.
Police said the 56-year-old "30 Rock'' star was issued two summonses -- one for riding a bike the wrong way and one for disorderly conduct -- and was released.
He is set to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court on the disorderly conduct summons on July 24.
Baldwin later tweeted out his own version, along with the officer's name and badge number.
Shortly after the incident, Baldwin took to his verified Twitter account and posted the name and badge number of one of the officers who he said "arrested me and handcuffed me for going the wrong way on Fifth Ave."
In tweets that followed, he called New York City "a mismanaged carnival of stupidity" and said photographers outside his home "terrified" his daughter and "nearly hit her with a camera."
Baldwin's wife, Hilaria Baldwin, also tweeted a picture of a photographer who she said almost hit her child outside their home.
She urged fans to help her find the photographer, who she said made her daughter cry.
Area residents reacted to the arrest and Baldwin's response Tuesday.
"If you don't like it, leave it," said Abby Schwinck of Greenwich Village. "That's all."
"I can see why anyone, whether they're a celebrity or non-celebrity -- just a resident of New York City - gets frustrated anytime, you know, the police sort of confront someone on an issue that one might not think is as important as other things going on in the city," said resident David Boatman.
Fellow biker Colin told 1010 WINS' Al Jones he bikes the wrong way down streets daily and has never received a ticket.
"You gotta be smooth with it. Honestly, probably just luck, just luck. It could happen to anybody," he said.
Baldwin is known for being hot-headed.
Last November, he snapped at a CBS 2 photographer after the actor testified at the trial of his now-convicted stalker.
In February of last year, Baldwin faced off with a New York Post photographer outside his East Village apartment. A Daily News photographer also said Baldwin punched him in 2012, which Baldwin denied.
In 2011, he was kicked off a plane after refusing to stop playing a game on his cellphone.
Earlier this year, Baldwin said he's thought about leaving the Big Apple because he said the paparazzi have become more aggressive with the city's celebrity residents.
Check Out These Other Stories From CBSNewYork.com: