Baldwin is arrested after dispute over parking space in Manhattan

Actor Alec Baldwin, who won an Emmy for mocking President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” was taken into custody outside his Manhattan apartment building Friday after getting into a dispute about a parking place, police said.

Baldwin was taken to a precinct house and was later issued a desk appearance ticket for misdemeanour assault and harassment.

Police said that someone was apparently holding a parking space for Baldwin, but that another car pulled into the space, on East 10th Street between University Place and Broadway. Police said the other driver, who is 49, and Baldwin, who is 60, got into an altercation.

Officers sent there in response to a 911 call found that the younger man, who was not identified, had an injury to his jaw. He was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital and was listed in stable condition.

Baldwin has portrayed Trump on “Saturday Night Live,'’ and the two have often sparred on social media.

In Washington, Trump was asked about Baldwin’s arrest. The president — himself a former guest host on “Saturday Night Live” — paused, then said, “I wish him luck.”

FILE PHOTO: Actor Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria Baldwin pose on the red carpet at the Elton John AIDS Foundation 25th year fall gala in New York City, November 7, 2017. Reuers

Baldwin has had run-ins with police in the past.

In 2014, he was arrested after he rode his bicycle the wrong way on Fifth Avenue near 16th Street. He was not carrying identification, and the officers who took him to a precinct house charged him with disorderly conduct after they said he became belligerent. Baldwin later went on Twitter to complain about the arrest, saying, “If you don’t have ID in NY when they write you a summons, they can take you in.”

Baldwin has been a presence on television lately, with a low-rated talk show on ABC. He is also the host of a syndicated radio program for the New York Philharmonic and in past years recorded announcements telling concertgoers to turn off their cellphones as the lights went down before the orchestra’s concerts at Lincoln Center.

But he had received the most attention from his appearances on “Saturday Night Live,” the venerable late-night comedy show on NBC. Baldwin took on the role in 2016 when Trump was a candidate.

Trump, who had been a guest host on the show in past seasons and had also figured in sketches in which he was played by cast members like Darrell Hammond, wrote on Twitter that the show was doing a “hit job” on him with Baldwin.

In March, the president wrote on Twitter that it was “agony for those who have been forced to watch.”

The president’s tweet came after Baldwin, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, answered a question about how long he could carry on the Trump role by saying, “Every time I do it now, it’s like agony. Agony. I can’t.”

Baldwin had a talk show on MSNBC in 2013, but it was suspended after he got into a confrontation with a photographer in which Baldwin used a gay slur. The photographer was trying to take photos of Baldwin and his wife and baby outside their building.

© 2018 The New York Times News Service