A foxy Philly anchorwoman – who once e-mailed sexy swimsuit snaps to a married TV talking head – became an anger woman yesterday, calling a female cop a “dyke bitch” and slugging her in the face, law-enforcement sources said.
The bizarro incident occurred when Alycia Lane, an Emmy Award-winning anchor for KWY-TV in Philadelphia, was riding in a cab with hunky radio DJ boyfriend Chris Booker and another couple when their taxi was stalled behind a slow-moving, unmarked police car, sources said.
When the unmarked car stopped for a light at Ninth Avenue and 17th Street in Chelsea, one of the men in Lane’s cab went over to the vehicle and yelled, “I don’t care if you’re a cop, drive faster!” the sources said.
It is not clear how the man knew the vehicle was a police car, but the three officers inside got out, identified themselves and began questioning him, the sources said.
The petite, twice-divorced Lane, 35, then also got out of the cab and began snapping photos, getting right up into the face of the male cop doing most of the grilling, the sources said.
One of the three cops, a woman, told the TV anchor to back away, saying, “You can take pictures, but you have to step back,” the sources said.
That’s when Lane went nuts, shouting, “I don’t care that you’re a cop – dyke bitch!” the sources said.
Then she walloped the officer in the face, the sources said.
Lane – whose lawyer claimed she didn’t know the three were cops – was busted and taken to the 10th Precinct station house, where she was charged with assault.
Crying so hard that her makeup ran down her face, Lane was later taken to central booking for her arraignment last night.
The usually impeccably primped Lane, whose red-rimmed eyes were a sharp contrast to her sleek, black jacket and pants, was released on her own recognizance.
Then she shared a 30-second hug with a male pal.
Lane’s Madison Avenue lawyer, David Smith, said his client “absolutely never hit or made any derogatory comments to anyone.”
“She was accosted by several individuals wearing plainclothes who violently grabbed her camera to prevent her from taking pictures of the altercation they were involved in,” Smith said.
He said Lane “was shocked to learn that these people were police officers after the fact.”
Lane, who has been dating Booker, a DJ at Q102 in Philly, refused to disclose who was in the cab with her, at first saying, “No comment,” and then, when pressed, adding, “several friends.”
As Page Six reported last May, the petite Lane hit the headlines big when she e-mailed bikini photos of herself to NFL Network anchorman Rich Eisen, only to have them discovered by his wife, Suzy Shuster.
A seething Shuster, a sideline reporter for ABC’s college-football broadcasts, fired off a stinging letter to the anchorwoman that said, “Boy do you look amazing in a bikini .ñ.ñ. congrats! Whatever you’re doing (Pilates? Yoga?) keep it up.”
For a while, Lane dated WCBS-TV new anchor Chris Wragge, but they called it quits in October.
A KYW/Channel 3 rep last night said in a statement: “We have no official comment at this time, except to say that we are very concerned for Alycia. We are still trying to sort out exactly what happened.”
Additional reporting by Barry Petchesky