CBS newsman Mike Wallace was arrested late Tuesday after a squabble with city taxi inspectors who were checking his driver’s paperwork while the “60 Minutes” correspondent’s dinner was getting cold.
Wallace, 86, was handcuffed, and processed at a police station where he was given a desk appearance ticket for disorderly conduct and told to appear before a judge at Manhattan Criminal Court Oct. 7.
The brouhaha began after Wallace picked up his dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes at a restaurant, and found that two officers with the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) were questioning his driver because the car was double-parked. After a wait, Wallace got out to see if he could speed things up.
TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg told reporters that Wallace “was observed to be overly assertive. He was disrespectful to the inspectors. He was asked to step away three times. He did not comply...and seemingly lunged” at one of the inspectors.
At that point, the television star was hauled away.
A witness told the New York Post the TLC treatment of Wallace was “atrocious. It was like a scene out of a movie. They wanted to prove they had power.” A TLC spokesman said Wednesday the incident was “under investigation at this time.”
Through a CBS spokesman, Wallace brushed off the incident, saying he “put the meatloaf dinner...into the microwave and it was delicious.”