Russell Crowe was arrested in New York for allegedly throwing a telephone at a hotel employee early Monday morning, according to a police report obtained by CNN.

Authorities say the New Zealand-born actor, 41, was upset that he could not place a call to Australia on his phone at the Mercer Hotel in SoHo. Police also say that the employee required stitches to mend a facial bruise. Crowe, who is in New York to promote his new movie Cinderella Man (which debuted in disappointing 4th place in the weekend box office race, with an estimated $18.6 million), is due to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court later Monday, the Associated Press reports.

Police spokesman Sgt. Mike Wysokowski says the Gladiator Oscar winner has been charged with second-degree assault. Wysokowski added that the alleged incident occurred at approximately 4:20 a.m.

Crowe has previously made news for heated encounters. At the 2002 Bafta Awards in London, he admitted to being "abusive" and "behaving unreasonably" towards a TV producer who cut shot his acceptance speech. Later that same year police reportedly reprimanded him following an alleged skirmish with a New Zealand businessman in a London restaurant.

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