Brooklyn Dodger: Glover Pops Foul, Flees in Court Tangle

(Photo: Gary He / NYDN)

Riding the goodwill of his well-received turns last year in Bamako and Dreamgirls, actor/producer/director Danny Glover on Monday allegedly shared a roundhouse full of love (pictured at right) with Daily News photographer Gary He. Both the News and the Post have details this morning about Glover's mysterious trip to a Brooklyn federal courthouse, which allegedly ended in the actor landing a "glancing blow" on He's jaw before fleeing the scene with "an assistant."

The Post's Stefanie Cohen reports that a "confused" Glover showed up at the trial of the brothers Lennox and Lester Parris, defendants against charges of stock fraud that inflated the value of their defunct bottled water brand Queench. Glover's lawyer Martin Singer told Cohen that the brothers instructed Glover to meet them at the address to discuss a "movie project" (the Parrises indeed have a scorching track record as executive producers, with their lone film, the 2000 hip-hop drama Turn it Up, evidently grossing $1.2 million on a $9 million budget); Glover not only went to the courthouse but actually stayed in the courtroom for 30 minutes before leaving and explaining he was summoned under "false pretenses."

Before He knew it -- Gary He, that is -- Glover was headed to his car. And he was swinging:

"What gives you the right to come out here and photograph me and have your camera up in my face?" Glover growled, according to He.

Glover and an assistant then fled in a limousine.

A courthouse employee who witnessed the incident appeared shaken by what had happened.

"I'm shocked; I can't believe it," the employee said, adding that the photographer had done nothing to provoke the assault.

The photographer was not injured and said he did not intend to press charges against Glover.

I'd love to think that's the end of this particular story, but if I'm spending a chunk of my Tuesday morning on a perfunctory paper-trail glimpse, I can only guess where the tabloid minions are taking it. Stay tuned.

Posted at March 13, 2007 10:12 AM