ATLANTA — A discussion about politics upset actor Wendell Pierce so much that he followed a group of people to their hotel room, tried to force his way inside, hit a woman in the head and ripped the hood off of her hoodie, she told Atlanta police in a report released Monday.

Pierce gave police a different version of the fracas at the Loews Atlanta Hotel early Saturday.

Wendell Pierce faces a charge of simple battery for an incident at the Loews Atlanta Hotel early Saturday. He is free on $1,000 bond. The Associated Press

Pierce acknowledged following the group to their room after the political discussion but told police he was standing outside when the woman and two of her friends tried to pull him inside as he tried to get away.

Pierce was charged with simple battery and released on $1,000 bond, Fulton County Jail records show. No charges were filed against the woman and her two friends.

“I regret that what started as a civil political discussion escalated to the level that it did,” Pierce said in a statement released Monday. “Although what has been reported thus far differs in important respects from what actually occurred, I have confidence that the judicial process will work as it should.”

Pierce, a New Orleans native, is known for his TV roles as Detective William “Bunk” Moreland on “The Wire” and Antoine Batiste on “Treme.” Jail records list his current address as Pasadena, California.

Throughout the process of being arrested, Pierce never indicated he was well-known and his arrest was treated like any other, Atlanta police spokesman Donald Hannah said.

After the arrest, Pierce decided not to speak at a graduation ceremony in New Jersey.

He did not want to create a distraction, Rutgers University-Newark announced Monday.

Related Stories