Police in New Mexico say Gene Hackman was acting in self-defense when he b****-slapped a homeless man who approach the actor and his wife in an aggressive manner as they exited a restaurant Tuesday night in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Police sources said a homeless man, identified as Bruce Becker, approach them in a threatening manner and used foul language to insult Betsy Hackman. That’s when the 82 year old Academy Award winning actor stepped up and slapped the guy across the face.

After Becker reported the incident to police, they determined that Gene was acting in self-defense. No charges were filed by either party.

This isn’t the first time the former Marine has had to put the beat-down on an unruly. In 2001 he was involved in a road-rage incident when two young men attacked him for hitting their car in Hollywood.

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