When Keanu Reeves encountered a paparazzo on a dark street last year, neither man exchanged a word. They knew their roles and they got right to them. The photographer illuminated his flash and began snapping away. The movie star hid his face and ducked into his car.
What happened next led them Tuesday to a courtroom where words were all they had.
"To my recollection, I didn't hit him," Reeves told a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury.
"The car hit me, and I went backward," the photographer, Alison Silva, countered.
The men were the first witnesses in a civil suit brought against the actor by Silva. The photographer, a 28-year-old Brazilian, alleges that Reeves, 44, struck him in the knee with the bumper of the actor's Porsche as he took pictures. Silva alleges he suffered a career-ending wrist fracture. His attorney estimates his past and future medical bills at $140,000.
Reeves' lawyers have said that Silva was not hurt at all and that the wrist fracture was an old soccer injury. In court papers, the actor's lawyers have said the paparazzo was desperate for cash because his car had been repossessed. They contend that he saw the confrontation with the actor as a way to make money.
Both sides agree that Silva followed Reeves to a medical facility in Rancho Palos Verdes on the evening of March 19, 2007. When the actor emerged from an hourlong visit with a relative, Silva approached and began photographing him.
Reeves, dressed in a dark gray suit and blue tie, told jurors that Silva planted himself firmly in front of the Porsche. When he inched forward -- to demonstrate his intention to leave, he said -- the photographer took a few steps backward, stumbled over his own feet and fell to the ground.
Reeves told jurors that he left his car and tried to help the man. He verified that someone had called 911, fetched a glass of water and inquired as to his condition, the actor said.
Photographs Silva took that evening showed Reeves with shoulder-length hair and a scruffy goatee and mustache, but in court, he was clean-shaven with a short, neat haircut. He seemed to take the proceeding very seriously, hesitating when asked to estimate a distance and choosing his words carefully.
Asked if Silva was disrespectful before placing himself in front of the car, Reeves paused and then called it "an interesting question."
"It wasn't great that he was there," Reeves said, "but he wasn't rude per se."
