One Life to Live star Nathaniel Marston (Michael McBain) was arrested this weekend after an allegedly assault in which he wielded a metal crate and attacked three bystanders in Manhattan. The actor was taken into police custody, admitted to the hospital for observations and later released.
The arrest stems from an incident that took place on Sunday, October 21 at 4:50am near 45th Street and 10th Avenue in Manhattan. Marston exited a cab and began arguing with the cab driver. The 32-year-old actor, who plays a doctor on One Life to Live, is then said to have assaulted three people with a crate, breaking one man's leg.
"He was crazed -- I don't know the guy from a hole in the wall," said alleged victim Salvatore Cabibbo in an interview with the New York Daily News.
Police were called to the scene and determined that Marston appeared to be under the influence of narcotics, possibly cocaine. Marston reportedly resisted arrest. The former amateur boxer flailed and swung wildly as police tried to take him into custody. The actor was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was labeled an "emotionally disturbed person," police said.
Also injured in the scuffle was New York City Police Officer Sean Turner.
Marston was charged with one count of Assault in the Second Degree, three counts of Assault in the Second Degree, three counts of Menacing in the Second Degree, three counts of Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree and one count of Resisting Arrest. Ten of the 11 charges against Marston are Class D Violent Felonies under New York criminal code. Each charge carries a maximum of seven years of jail time. The resisting arrest charge is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of one year in prison. He was released without bail by Judge John Cataldo.
Marston has since denied that he attacked anyone, saying that the situation was the result of mistaken identity. In fact, the actor asserts that he is the one that was being assaulted.
"I was attacked by three people," Marston declared, adding he "was happy to see the police," and "was mistakenly taken into custody as the attacker."
Marston is scheduled to appear in criminal court on February 4, 2008.
This is not the first time that Marston's anger has gotten the better of him. A show source tells Soap Central that Marston had been acting somewhat erratically recently. Last week, the actor erupted while at work in ABC's Manhattan studios.
In 1999, Marston was arrested on criminal mischief charges after he attacked an automated-teller machine (ATM) in Manhattan. The actor was fined and ordered to attend anger management classes.
Marston joined the cast of One Life to Live in December 2001 as Al Holden, but his character was killed off two years later. Fans flooded ABC with letters of support for the actor and the network un-fired Marston, creating the new role of Michael McBain for him. Prior to joining One Life to Live, Marston a two-year run as As The World Turns's Eddie Silva, a stint that ended in January 2000.
With widespread speculation that Marston will lose his job as a result of the altercation, a spokesperson for One Life to Live said only that the actor was temporarily off the show.
"We are reviewing the matter internally, and until completion of this review we have taken him off the schedule," the spokesperson said in a statement.
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