71 Year Old Gene Hackman Whoops Some Ass

By Jack on 2001-10-30 14:43:55

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Gene Hackman was involved in a minor traffic accident at a busy intersection on Monday that escalated into a fight between the 71-year-old Oscar winner and two much younger occupants of the car he allegedly bumped, police and witnesses said.

Police quoted witnesses as saying Hackman's car, a Volvo sedan, collided with a Volvo station wagon on a busy street just off Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood and that after both drivers pulled over, the driver of the station wagon, a man in his 30s, became angry and began verbally abusing Hackman.

The driver of the other car "was really close to (Hackman's) face and kept stepping up on him," witness Nathaniel Keefer told reporters afterwards.

"There was more of that for several minutes but (Hackman) seemed to keep his cool. ... But then something was said and (Hackman) just hit him four or five times."

After Hackman punched the driver, another occupant of the station wagon kicked the actor in the groin, wrestled him to the ground and flipped him onto his stomach, witnesses said.

Through his publicist, Dick Guttman, Hackman said he had "no recollection" of being kicked in the groin. Hackman recalled waiting in the right lane of a busy intersection in his Volvo when a vehicle in a left lane attempted to make a right turn in front of him, Guttman said.

"He hit the car from the back. He got out, said it was his fault. The men went to an island in front of a Virgin Records store to exchange information."

At that point, the driver and another man who had been riding in the station wagon "confronted him, were belligerent, and they persisted in their belligerence," Guttman said. "They shoved him in the chest, they hit him, and he got in a fight with the two of them."

A police spokesman earlier had said the men were forcibly separated by police who arrived on the scene but the Los Angeles Police Department later retracted that statement.

"The men were not fighting when police arrived," Lee said. No major injuries were reported and neither person filed charges, police spokesman Jason Lee said. "They went on their way."

Guttman said that except for a few bumps and bruises, Hackman was fine. "His film roles to the contrary, he's not a violent person," Guttman added.

Having appeared in scores of films over the last four decades, Hackman, built a reputation as a versatile actor, but is best known for his Westerns and action films.

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