HotelChatter

We know, it sounds random. And...it was. But Baldwin was apparently having an innocent drink with his publicist (who better, really) when a woman on the other side of the bar fell over and began having convulsions.

Since Baldwin grew up with an epileptic family member (evidently, not Alec—with all those paparazzi bulbs going off in his face 24/7, he would have fallen down a long, long time ago), he was evidently more comfortable rushing to the girl's side than others in the room:

"'It was pretty violent,' Baldwin said.

At first, no one rushed to her assistance. 'A guy right next us was just sipping his martini and didn’t look up,' [Brad Taylor, Baldwin's publicist] told us. 'Two other girls ran over to the corner.'

Baldwin recognized the episode as a symptom of epilepsy, having grown up with a family member’s frequent seizures. With the rest of the bar unable or unwilling to help, he left his table and knelt down to the afflicted girl."

Which teaches us two things: number one, people are real a**holes when it comes to helping other people in the throes of an epileptic seizure. And number two, Stephen Baldwin is apparently a good guy to have around the hotel when things like this happen.

Not that this kind of thing happens very often. And not that we usually find ourselves drinking in the Peninsula's bar (when it comes to funky hotel bars in NYC, there are at least a few others that come to mind...). But still, you get the idea.

[Photo: Dick Johnson NYC / Flickr; inset, Stephen Lovekin / Getty]