EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: DAILY NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER SPEAKS OUT: 'HE LUNGED ON ME LIKE A RAGING BULL'
Serial shutterbug smacker Alec Baldwin unleashed his fury on a Daily News photographer — and now he’s the focus of a criminal investigation.
A lensman for The News filed an assault complaint with the NYPD, charging the hot-headed “30 Rock” star punched him in the face Tuesday outside the city Marriage License Bureau.
Lawrence Schwartzwald
Alec Baldwin, covers up in a white bedspread from his midtown hotel as he strolls down Park ave. to his hotel late today.
The groom-to-be went ballistic when photographer Marcus Santos snapped him outside the Worth St. office after Baldwin and fiancee Hilaria Thomas picked up their license in lower Manhattan about 9:30 a.m.
“He comes after me, starts shoving and punching me — one time, right in the chin,” said Santos, 42, adding that he was coming to the defense of another photographer. “And then he started shoving me, and pushing me. He lunged at me like raging bull.”
Baldwin was clearly losing it.
“He was like crazy, you know?” said witness Goren Veljic, a photographer who snaps wedding pictures outside the building. “There was an eruption of mad. I think something’s wrong with him.”
Jefferson Siegel for New York Daily News
Alec Baldwin shoves Daily News photographer Marcus Santos after leaving the Marriage Bureau on Tuesday morning.
An unrepentant Baldwin presented his version of the clash via Twitter: “A ‘photographer’ almost hit me in the face with his camera this morning.” Baldwin, in a hashtag, advocated waterboarding the two members of the media.
He later compared the incident to the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin: “I suppose if the offending paparazzi was wearing a hoodie and I shot him, it would all blow over.”
Baldwin approached Daily News photog Marcus Santos with an angry glare. (Jefferson Siegel/for New York Daily News)
Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, was stunned by Baldwin’s invocation of the killing of an unarmed teen.
“Rather than make light of a national racial tragedy, I suggest that if you don’t want to be recognized when you go out in public, it is you who should be wearing something over your head,” he said.
Jefferson Siegel for New York Daily News
Alec Baldwin shoves Daily News photographer Marcus Santos after leaving the Marriage Bureau Tuesday morning.
PHOTOS: WHEN STARS ATTACK
Baldwin was spotted late Tuesday afternoon near E. 62nd St. using a white sheet to shield his face, after leaving the Regency Hotel. In the evening, he made a scheduled appearance to keynote an American Heart Association event at the Grand Hyatt in midtown.
Larry King, of CNN fame, was at the New York City Heart Ball.
“Alec has always had a problem with photographers,” King said.
RELATED: ALEC BALDWIN KICKED OFF PLANE FOR PLAYING 'WORDS WITH FRIENDS' For Mount Baldwin, it was his third explosion against a photographer. The actor had previously attacked photographers in California in 1995, and another in Manhattan in 2010.
The “Rock of Ages” star and Thomas picked up the license for their June 30 nuptials before her future spouse went after Santos.
Baldwin approaches Daily News photographer Jefferson Siegel before attacking Santos. (Jefferson Siegel for New York Daily News)
Santos was standing on the sidewalk with Veljic and another News photographer when the volatile Baldwin, 54, stomped their way with a maniacal glare.
“He said, ‘Stay away from me, or I’ll break your f------ teeth,’” recounted News photographer Jefferson Siegel. “Then he grabbed my camera lens, and tried to shove my camera to the ground.”
Santos said the photographers followed Baldwin’s snarled orders to step back, but it didn’t soothe the angry actor. Santos warned Baldwin to back off when the Emmy winner reached for Siegel.
“I said, ‘Don’t touch him,’” said Santos. “Then he came right after me. I knew he was going to attack me. I stepped back, and he kept coming.
Hilaria Thomas kept a short distance behind Baldwin after leaving the Marriage Bureau. (Jefferson Siegel for New York Daily News)
Santos said the photographers followed Baldwin’s snarled orders to step back, but it didn’t soothe the angry actor. Santos warned Baldwin to back off when the Emmy winner reached for Siegel.
“I said, ‘Don’t touch him,’” said Santos. “Then he came right after me. I knew he was going to attack me. I stepped back, and he kept coming.
RELATED: '30 ROCK' STAR PROPOSES TO YOGA INSTRUCTOR HILARIA THOMAS Santos, who started working for the Daily News two years ago, filed his complaint at the Fifth Precinct stationhouse. The photographer said the assault left him with pain in his chin, a headache and dizziness.
Baldwin, in a statement issued by his spokesman, insisted he was the victim of an overly aggressive Santos. Cops notified the Manhattan district attorney’s office about the complaint and spoke to the actor’s attorney.
“Alec Baldwin is cooperating with the investigation,” said an NYPD spokesman. “Should we want him to come down, his attorney will bring him to us.”
