Alec Baldwin pleads guilty in Manhattan parking spot scuffle, will take anger management
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Actor Alec Baldwin was back in court Wednesday in a highly publicized scuffle over a parking spot, pleading guilty to second-degree harassment and agreeing to take anger management classes.
More serious charges, including attempted assault, were dropped.
The incident happened near Baldwin's Greenwich Village home in November.
According to court documents, he admitted to pushing a man he claims stole his parking spot.
But his lawyers had said video evidence would disprove the man's claim that Baldwin also punched him.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office said that after reviewing the video surveillance and speaking with several witnesses, they were prepared to make the offer of second-degree harassment with a conditional discharge and a short-term anger management program. Baldwin pleaded guilty in accordance with those terms, and the case was adjourned until March 27 for a compliance update.
Baldwin must also pay a $120 surcharge.
Baldwin's attorney stressed that his client pleaded guilty to a violation and not a crime.
Baldwin and his lawyer didn't comment outside court, but the actor wasn't shy on Twitter, where he criticized the media for staking out his courtroom when there were more serious cases elsewhere in the building and for misreporting the allegations against him.
"The press reported that I punched someone. That is untrue, and that is a serious charge. A man was punched in NY recently and died," Baldwin tweeted, along with a link to a news article about a fatal bar fight in Queens last November.
"Nothing that resembles justice ever enters or leaves any courtroom in this country," he added.
Baldwin was arrested on November 2 after police were told a driver pulled into a parking space that one of Baldwin's relatives was holding for him, and the two men started quarreling and pushing each other.
The other driver told police Baldwin punched or slapped him. The 49-year-old man was taken to a hospital complaining of jaw pain and redness around his neck.
Baldwin, who got booted off a flight in 2011 for refusing to put his cellphone away, was playing with his phone while waiting for Wednesday's hearing to start - but he didn't argue when court officers announced that phones had to be turned off and out of sight.
As it was, the second-floor courtroom was already noisy - with the beeping sound of inmate-transport buses backing up outside, providing a constant, if not annoying, soundtrack for his appearance.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
----------
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
