He’s free as a bird.
Actor Russell Crowe became a convicted phone-flinger yesterday – but copped a plea to a misdemeanor assault charge that keeps him out of jail and off probation, with no impact on his ability to enter and leave the United States.
Crowe admitted in Manhattan Criminal Court that he injured a Mercer Hotel desk clerk last June when – angered that he couldn’t phone home to Australia – he hurled a telephone at the clerk’s head.
The sweetheart deal – first reported in yesterday’s Post – is conditioned on the New Zealand-born actor not getting rearrested anywhere in the next year. The actor had faced up to seven years in prison and a ban on travel to and from the country if convicted on the original charge, felony assault.
Crowe came to court with his wife, Danielle, and two security guards, and didn’t even have to eat much crow during the brief proceeding.
Judge Kathryn Freed let him give “yes” and “no” answers as she ran him through such routine plea-deal questions as, “Has anyone forced you to take this plea?” and “Do you have anything to say before sentencing?” He didn’t.
In fact, the worst part of ‘fessing up was getting in and out of the lower Manhattan courthouse, which was swarmed with a Circus Maximus of reporters and photographers from around the world.
Crowe and his small entourage disembarked from a huge, black Denali SUV only to find themselves ringed by a 10-deep scrum of cameramen and shouting reporters and television producers.
Cameras – and a few cameramen – fell to the ground as the mob made its way up the courthouse steps.
Crowe and his wife appeared shaken as they went through the metal detectors. “That was terrible,” he said as he climbed the stairs to the second-floor courtroom – to find more press.
Crowe stepped up to see the judge in a crisply tailored dark blue suit – and quickly realized he should get rid of his chewing gum. As defense lawyer Gerald Lefcourt and lead prosecutor Chad Sjoquist held a quick sidebar meeting with the judge, Crowe lobbed the gum into a trash bucket.
“We have reviewed this case very carefully,” the prosecutor told the judge when announcing the plea agreement. The DA’s Office lowered the charges after reviewing videotape of the phone-toss and victim Nestor Estrada’s medical records. Estrada’s wishes were also taken into account, Sjoquist said, as was Crowe’s lack of a prior record.
Crowe rejoined his wife briefly in the audience as his lawyer met with court officers to plan a more orderly departure from the building. Danielle appeared to be trying to calm down her visibly tense actor husband as she stroked his back. Crowe and company were then whisked out a rear entrance. He is expected to fly home to Australia today.
A spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection said, “A misdemeanor assault does not preclude one from entering and leaving the United States.”
Estrada has reportedly reached a civil settlement with Crowe in the low six figures. Prosecutors and lawyers on both sides of the deal have insisted that the settlement had no bearing on the criminal plea arrangement.
laura.italiano@nypost.com