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CSI Star: Photog Attack "Exaggerated"

Wed., Jul. 18, 2007 4:16 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

Did Gary Dourdan wind up in the middle of his own "shocking" crime scene—or was the CSI star just defending his personal space against an overzealous shutterbug?

Looks like it will be up to the legal system to sort out a Tuesday-night confrontation between the actor and a photographer for the celebrity site TMZ.

The actor, who plays streetwise investigator Warrick Brown on the top-rated CBS procedural, found himself the unwitting subject of a viral video Wednesday as footage purportedly showing him roughing up a paparazzo appeared online via TMZ.

According to the site, the 40-year-old Dourdan, decked out in leather biker gear, pulled up on a motorcycle outside of the go-to Hollywood hot spot Hyde, when he was approached by a gaggle of photographers. Among the group was the TMZ shooter, who pointed a video camera in Dourdan's face.

"Please get that f--kin' camera out of my face," Dourdan can be heard saying on the video. "Are you the guy that was at the club?"

"No, this is his first night. I can vouch for him," another photographer chimes in.

Dourdan then repeatedly demands the rookie "turn it off." Instead, the TMZ guy turns the camera to the ground and keeps rolling. During that period, the site claims, Dourdan pounced but eventually backed off at the behest of onlookers.

After the alleged altercation, Dourdan says: "I know all the cops around here, they're my friends. You're violating my privacy, put s--t on the Internet...You publish my pictures that are not good. I know everyone here."

According to TMZ, Dourdan then left but returned moments later with some friends and sought the offending photographer.

Despite being described by TMZ as "shocking," the video is not much to speak of—lots of shaky shots of the pavement as the paparazzo tries to flee. However, the photographer clearly sounds panicked.

"He slammed me on the ground," he tells a colleague in what sounds like a cell phone conversation. "My f--king camera's broken."

TMZ says that the unidentified shutterbug plans to file a police report.

But Dourdan's spokesperson downplayed the incident.

"Gary has always been respectful of the media and the paparazzi but also values his privacy. It's our belief that this is a minor incident exaggerated by an eager paparazzo in order to create a story," the rep told E! News.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department couldn't find a complaint on file, but said such incidents are typically investigated and, if there's enough evidence, would be turned over to prosecutors to determine whether charges would be filed.

TMZ has a history of ticking off celebs. Last year, Woody Harrelson took issue with one of the site's shutterbugs who snapped away at the actor as he left a Hollywood club.

After asking the photog to stop, Harrelson grabbed the man's camera. The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office declined to press felony charges, stating that footage of the confrontation failed to prove the Natural Born Killer star broke the camera or caused bodily harm. But that didn't deter the photographer from filing a $2.5 million civil suit against Harrelson in March.