Mike Wallace Busted

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,14694,00.html

 

Mike "Rowdy" Wallace Busted

 

by Lia Haberman

Aug 11, 2004, 10:00 AM PT

 

Who would have guessed 60 Minutes man Mike Wallace was a ticking time bomb?

 

But, according to New York's finest, the normally erudite CBS newsman melted down Tuesday night. He was slapped into handcuffs and hauled off to jail Tuesday after he allegedly lunged at a city inspector during a parking dispute.

 

But Wallace and some eyewitnesses say the iconic telejournalist may have been the victim of overzealous traffic cops.

 

The CBS correspondent's troubles began while picking up a meat loaf dinner at a Manhattan restaurant while his driver double-parked outside. The octogenarian emerged from Luke's Bar & Grill as two Taxi and Limousine Commission inspectors were questioning his driver. According to authorities, things got out of hand when Wallace interrupted the inspectors and became "overly assertive and disrespectful."

 

A TLC spokesperson maintains that after being asked three times to step away from the vehicle, "Wallace appeared to lunge toward one of the two inspectors. The other inspector became concerned with his partner's safety and at that point cuffed Mr. Wallace."

 

That's not how Wallace tells it. Speaking on WFAN's Imus in the Morning show, he said "I asked what's going on, and they kept telling me to get back in the car. Then they arrested me and took me to the 19th Precinct."

 

"I'm an 86-year-old man," Wallace told the New York Post. "For whatever reason, this guy and his buddy were intent upon telling me that I was interfering with the execution of the law."

 

The booking details are just about the only ones not in dispute. The 60 Minutes godfather was taken to the 19th Precinct station house, where he was issued a summons for disorderly conduct and released. He's due in court in October.

 

Finding eyewitnesses to back the TV personality shouldn't be a problem. Several were quoted in Newsday saying the inspectors overreacted and that the gathering crowd booed as Wallace was arrested.

 

Ernesto Cavalli, who owns the restaurant next door, claims Wallace was simply asking what happened when "the TLC officer grabbed his shirt and pushed him very strongly against the car and handcuffed him." Cavalli said the inspector then turned to the crowd and said, "Anybody else?"

 

At the time of the arrest, CBS released a statement saying Wallace was home and "is fine." No further information has been released by the network, and Wallace's spokesperson, Richard Leibner, offered "no comment" when reached Wednesday morning.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Shouldn't have double-parked -- throw his old ass in the slammer...