Michael Stuhlbarg at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2018. Photo c/o Jay Godwin, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
A homeless man threw a rock at actor Michael Stuhlbarg’s head this weekend in Central Park. The actor then chased him out of the park.
Stuhlbarg is well-known for his role in the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire” and movies including Call Me by Your Name and The Shape of Water. He is reportedly a resident of the Upper West Side.
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The NYPD confirmed to East Side feed that at about 7:45 p.m., they responded to an incident near 90th Street and East Drive. A preliminary investigation found that a 27-year-old male suspect had thrown a rock at a 55-year-old man, striking him in the head. The victim, who turned out to be Stuhlbarg, then chased the perpetrator to 9 East 91st Street, the location of the Russian Consulate. There, police arrested Xavier Israel on assault charges. Stuhlbarg refused medical attention.
Witnesses reported seeing Israel pick up a rock and throw it into a crowd, apparently hitting the actor in the back of the head and neck. The NY Post reports that Israel was on parole for attempted robbery at the time of his arrest and has two prior assault charges. There are also reports that he may have also assaulted a man and woman in a Central Park incident on January 2, allegedly punching the pair as they sat on a rock.
Stuhlbarg is a California native but attended Juilliard for his BFA. He’s currently playing Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky on Broadway in The Patriots, a play by “The Crown” creator Peter Morgan. The Patriots runs through June 23.
Maybe it’ll be a whole 24 hours before he’s free to attack someone else.
Some Boardwalk Empire justice might have pre-empted that.