Alec Baldwin’s Alleged Assault Incident May Have Been Mutually Combative

Alec Baldwin may not have been the aggressor in his assault incident yesterday, according to a new report by TMZ.

Baldwin was arrested on Friday morning after an altercation over a parking spot in New York City. Early reports suggested that the actor had punched the other driver in the jaw, but now law enforcement sources say that may not have been the case. They identify the other party as 49-year-old Wojciech Cieszowski, and say that Balwin may have only slapped him. This small detail could alter the nature of the whole case.

On top of that, police reportedly have some security footage of the incident. They told TMZ that it is grainy, but it definitely shows both men shoving one another. The video reportedly makes it hard to be sure that Baldwin actually struck Cieszowski, and it shows that both were acting aggressively.

Now, the video proof of a shoving match may allow Baldwin and his representatives to frame the fight as “mutual combat,” rather than assault. This would not be a crime, and Baldwin would be cleared. However, Cieszowski still claims that he suffered face and neck injuries in the fight, and he went to the hospital after Baldwin was arrested.

One way or another, the story is clearly more complicated than early reports suggested. This lends more legitimacy to Baldwin’s tweets on Friday night, when he assured fans that he was being treated unfairly in the headlines.

“Normally, I would not comment on something as egregiously misstated as today’s story,” he wrote at the time. “However, the assertion that I punched anyone over a parking spot is false. I wanted to go on the record stating as much.”

He added, “I realize that it has become a sport to tag people [with] as many negative charges and defaming allegations as possible for the purposes of clickbait entertainment. Fortunately, no matter how reverberating the echoes, it doesn’t make the statements true.”

As the story broke, many were prepared to take aim at Baldwin considering his history of anger management problems. Back in 2007, a leaked voice mail revealed him berating his then-11-year-old daughter. In the midst of a heart-wrenching custody battle, he called the little girl a “rude, thoughtless little pig.” Many people — including Donald Trump Jr. — re-hashed this incident in the wake of Friday’s news.

Baldwin was also arrested in 2014 when he lost his temper with two police officers. He was stopped for riding his bike against the flow of traffic in New York City, and given a summons for the violation. After screaming at police, he got an additional charge for disorderly conduct as well.

Baldwin has not responded to the new revelations in his case.