Wendell Pierce, The Wire Actor, Arrested for Battery in Atlanta

The Wire actor Wendell Pierce was arrested Saturday and charged with battery at an Atlanta hotel where he was staying, police said. The incident occurred after a political discussion got heated, according to a police report.

Maggie Elena Baca told authorities she encountered Pierce and his girlfriend on the 23rd floor of the Lowes Atlanta Hotel. After she got into a political debate with the 52-year-old actor, Baca says that she and her friends tried to walk away. Pierce followed them, tried to force his way into their room and “began to hit her in the head and grab her hoodie, ripping her hoodie off,” according to the police report.

Pierce disputed Baca’s account in the police report, saying that the women tried to pull him into their room, not that he tried to force his way in. The actor, who played Bunk Moreland on the HBO drama, was charged with simple battery. Neither party requested medical assistance.

Neither Pierce’s publicist nor Baca immediately returned a request for comment Monday.

The police department noted that the actor “made no indication he was famous.” “The incident did not rise to anything significant,” the police statement said. “It was treated like any other arrest.”

Pierce was released on Sunday on $1,000 bond, jail records show.

In the wake of the incident, the actor who recently starred in Confirmation cancelled his scheduled commencement adress at the Newark campus of Rutgers University on Wednesday.