Actress Lindsay Lohan, who has had her share of run-ins with the authorities, was arrested in New York City early this morning after reportedly hitting a pedestrian with her Porsche, the New York Daily News reports. She’s accused of leaving the scene of the accident.
The man she reportedly hit, Manhattan chef Jose Rodriguez, said the actress was “slurring” words and “smelled like alcohol,” the story reports.
Rodriguez complained that Lohan and her two male companions didn’t appear to take responsibility, according to the publication. “They acted like I was nothing — that no one could touch her because she was rich and powerful,” he told the newspaper.
The incident took place around 12:30 a.m. in an alley between two hotels — the Maritime and the Dream, in Chelsea. Lohan was reportedly released after being charged with leaving the scene of an accident and receiving a ticket.
“Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said police don’t think Lohan was intoxicated but no Breathalyzer test was performed at the scene,” the report notes.
The alleged victim said he had just got off work at the Maritime when he “saw this car come real quick and hit me," the story reports. "I was in so much pain — I fell to the side."
He then describes a brief encounter with Lohan. However, a follow-up report on TMZ.com indicates that a hotel surveillance video has surfaced that sheds doubt on some of the claims of the alleged victim.
“Surveillance video at The Dream hotel in NYC shows the guy who claims Lindsay Lohan struck him is grossly exaggerating his claim at the very least … TMZ has learned,” the story reports. “Sources connected to the hotel tell us … the video shows the entire incident and the aftermath. Lindsay was driving into the hotel, down a ramp. The alleged victim was walking in the pedestrian path, which Lindsay had to cross.
“The video shows Lindsay’s car — which is traveling at a crawl — gets very close to the pedestrian but it’s unclear if the vehicle makes contact. In fact, sources tell us … 2 detectives came to the hotel early this morning and viewed the tape. One detective felt Lindsay’s car ‘grazed’ the back of the alleged victim’s leg, but the other detective felt the car never made contact.”
According to the TMZ report, “Once Lindsay clears the area and goes down a ramp, the video shows the alleged victim sprinting after her. The video shows the alleged victim does not get real close to Lindsay, and it doesn’t appear that he confronted her, but it appears when he got down there he noticed it was Lindsay — partly because she had drawn a crowd near the entrance to the club.”
The Daily News said Rodriguez “called 911 and was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he said doctors told him he has torn tendons and gave him morphine for the pain.
“Police said the actress was ‘going very slow’ while maneuvering around a crowd of people outside Dream.”
A police source is quoted by the Daily News saying: “She’s hitting her horn because there’s a lot of people in the area. The crowd moves but she kind of brushes against this one guy.
"He runs up to her, tells her she hit him. They get out of the car. There’s some interaction with her, her entourage and the guy."
The piece adds that Rodriguez indicated in an incident report he filed with the Maritime’s garage that “the female appeared disoriented.”
Of course she was drinking. Throw this woman in jail already!