Alec Baldwin arrested in alleged parking dispute punch

Alec Baldwin was arrested Friday after allegedly punching a man in the face during a dispute over a parking spot outside his New York City home, authorities said.

Police said the actor claimed he had a family member holding the spot for him as he attempted to park his black Cadillac Escalade around 1:30 p.m. when a man driving a black Saab station wagon pulled up and took it.

Police said the men were arguing and pushed each other before Baldwin, 60, turned violent.

Baldwin was taken into custody and is expected to face an assault charge. He's being processed at a nearby precinct in Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighbourhood.

The driver of the station wagon, 49, was taken to a hospital with jaw pain, police said.

A representative for Baldwin did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.

Baldwin, the star of movies like Glengarry Glen Rossand the television sitcom 30 Rock,portrays U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Liveand recently started a talk show on ABC.

Asked about Baldwin's arrest, Trump said: "I wish him luck."

Past scrapes with the law

An ABC spokeswoman had no comment about Baldwin's arrest, other than to say his talk show will air Sunday night as scheduled.

The most recent episode, with less than 1.5 million viewers, had the smallest audience of any prime-time program on the top four broadcast networks over the past week, the Nielsen company said.

Baldwin's past scrapes with the law include a 2014 arrest in New York City for bicycling the wrong way on a one-way street and a 1995 arrest for allegedly slugging a paparazzi photographer in Los Angeles, one of several such run-ins.

Baldwin was booted off an American Airlines flight in 2011 after allegedly getting belligerent with a flight attendant who asked him to stop playing Words with Friendsand put his cellphone away.

After the bicycle-related arrest, Baldwin told New York magazine he was ready to quit his public life and leave the city, an hour train ride from where he grew up on Long Island.

"I just can't live in New York anymore," Baldwin said in the article.

"Everything I hated about L.A. I'm beginning to crave. L.A. is a place where you live behind a gate, you get in a car, your interaction with the public is minimal. I used to hate that. But New York has changed."