Here We Go Again: Another Person Vandalizes Ed Sullivan Theater
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Here we go again.
For the second time this week, police say someone vandalized the Ed Sullivan Theater.
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Police say 42-year-old Alvin Moore tossed a metal newspaper stand into the doors of the theater, breaking several panes of recently repaired glass just before 1 a.m. Thursday.
Police said a security guard hit Moore in the head with a golf club.
The guard caught Moore and held him until officers arrived. The suspect was transported to St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, where he is being treated for minor lacerations.
Police say Moore caused roughly $1,500 worth of damage to the theater.
Moore, originally from Sebring, Fla., faces burglary and criminal mischief charges. Police say he told them he was upset because Letterman hadn't responded to a number of demo tapes he sent him.
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This incident follows another act of vandalism at the site that left the studio lobby damaged last weekend.
James Whittemore pleaded guilty and has a court date in Manhattan on Friday. His rampage was caught on surveillance video and happened, he said, during a booze blackout.
"The only thing I remember is I was laying on the floor in the lobby, looking out, and I saw all the cop cars," Whittemore told CBS 2's Lou Young. "I looked around and I was shocked. I was just hoping there was somebody else there with me, but I was by myself."
Whittemore wanted to apologize to Letterman, specifically.
"I am sincerely, really, really sorry," he said. "I'm glad that he could continue to go on with the show... and I promise to definitely repay all the damage that I've done to the theater at all."
Whittemore and his uncle said members of their family have struggled with alcoholism for generations. Reilly said he gave up drinking 20 years ago.
Until his court date, he's working in his uncle's backyard during the day and attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at night.
Whittemore's uncle said he hopes the incident will be a wake-up call.
"If it wasn't the Ed Sullivan Theater and he blacked out, you guys wouldn't have been here," Mike Reilly said. "He could've been in a car crash and killed somebody."
What can be done to prevent more copycats from vandalizing the theater? Do you believe Whittemore's apology is sincere? Sound off in our comments section.
