It was a day of heart-pounding drama as Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to authorities in New York.
Reporters swarmed lower Manhattan as the 66-year-old disgraced movie mogul was led away from a police precinct in handcuffs.
Weinstein’s surrender took place at a police precinct in Manhattan’s tony Tribeca neighborhood, just four blocks from his office at The Weinstein Company, where he once reigned as a film titan.
Weinstein was carrying books under his arm as he turned himself in, a biography of movie director Elia Kazan and “Something Wonderful” about Broadway musical legends Rodgers & Hammerstein. The third appeared to be a leather-bound notebook.
An hour later, he was seen smiling as angry onlookers shouted obscenities while he was escorted out of the precinct by a female officer and into a car.
Due to his girth, it took three pairs of handcuffs, hidden under his coat tail, to secure him.
The indictment handed down Friday accuses Weinstein of sexual assaults on two women —one in 2004 and another in 2013. One of those women, Lucia Evans, has publicly told her story. The second woman is unidentified.
Standing before the judge, Weinstein looked exhausted as a defeated man. His flesh was a grey and had a sickly pallor.
To make bail, he posted a cashier's check for $1 million and spoke only once, when asked if he understood the terms of his release, which include surrendering his passport, and wearing a GPS tracking device.
"Yes," he responded.
Weinstein is represented by powerhouse defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman.
"Someone asked me how Mr. Weinstein was feeling and my answer was, 'As well as can be expected when you have been accused of a crime that you vehemently deny having committed,'" he told reporters Friday.
Brafman says the #MeToo movement may make it difficult to find an impartial jury.
"The charges will not be believed by 12 people, assuming we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case," he said.
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