San Fernando Valley : Alec Baldwin Arrested; Allegedly Hit Paparazzo

Actor Alec Baldwin was arrested Thursday after he allegedly slugged a cameraman who was videotaping the homecoming of the actor’s wife, actress Kim Basinger, and their newborn daughter, Los Angeles police said.

Baldwin and Basinger arrived at their hillside home in Woodland Hills about 12:45 p.m. with their 3-day-old daughter Ireland when they spotted Alan Zanger, a 51-year-old free-lance photographer, parked across the street with his camera rolling, said Lt. Ray Lombardo of the Los Angeles Police Department.

“Baldwin approached him and basically said . . . ‘I don’t mind if you film me, but I don’t want you filming the baby,’ ” Lombardo said.

The two began to argue and Zanger alleged that Baldwin, 37, punched him in the nose, possibly breaking it, Lombardo said.

Officers took Baldwin to the West Valley LAPD station and booked him on suspicion of battery, then released him on his own recognizance, Lombardo said.

Zanger is a famed paparazzo who has been attacked with a baseball bat, run off the road and fined thousands of dollars in past incidents.

Baldwin, in a statement released through his publicist, disputed that he had seriously injured Zanger and called the photographer’s conduct “unacceptable.”

“Anyone with a shred of human decency would understand that there are times in your life when you want your privacy respected, whether you are a public figure or not,” Baldwin said in his statement. “I do believe that bringing your wife and 3-day-old baby home from the hospital is one of those occasions.

“That Mr. Zanger felt it was appropriate to videotape my home and my family for his own profit is unacceptable to me,” Baldwin’s statement continued. “I asked him repeatedly to stop filming us and he refused each request. I dispute his contention that I broke his nose or caused any other facial damage.”

Baldwin is the star of “The Hunt for Red October” and “Malice,” among other films.

The altercation is but the latest in a series of scuffles between celebrities and the paparazzi who would capture their image.

On October 8, actor Woody Harrelson allegedly hit a cameraman at an airport in West Tisbury, Mass., as he was leaving Martha’s Vineyard. Harrelson was angry that his wife and 2-year-old daughter were being photographed, police said. No charges were filed and no injuries reported.

A misdemeanor assault charge against Robert De Niro was dropped this month after a cameraman told prosecutors he wasn’t hurt in a confrontation with the actor outside a New York nightclub.