Sean Penn has long been known for his bad temper. He’s certainly not a happy-go-lucky sort, and comes across as rather surly much of the time. Given all that, it’s not surprising to hear that he attacked a paparazzo on Friday. The photographer, Jordan Dawes, was at the Brentwood Country Mart taking photos of celebs from inside his car. As Sean Penn pulled into the parking lot, Dawes started photographing him. However things got ugly when Dawes got out of his car and Sean saw him – and went ballistic, chasing, kicking, and hitting the guy.

The paparazzo in the alleged Sean Penn scuffle is not taking his supposed altercation with the actor lying down. Photographer and self-proclaimed documentarian Jordan Dawes spoke to E! News exclusively about his alleged beat-down Friday afternoon, for which he filed a police report against the Oscar winner.

According to Dawes, he and four other photographers and videographers were waiting at the Brentwood Country Mart for the Milk star that afternoon. When Penn got out of his car, the photog started snapping pictures of the actor from his vehicle, which he claims was parked about 50 feet away from Penn.

When Dawes got out of his car and started taking photos of Penn, that’s when Penn approached him, the photog said. “He beelined it for me and started kicking me in the legs,” Dawes said. “As I was backing away, I was still shooting. Then he got me to the other side of the street and punched me in the arm and in my camera.” According to the shutterbug, the 49-year-old star threatened to “put him in a box” and told him he would remember his face.

“My camera was damaged,” Dawes said. “I’m all bruised up…I empathize with the photographers now, I really do. It’s horrifying.” The paparazzo said he turned in photos taken during the alleged attack to authorities, but hasn’t decided whether to take civil action against Penn.

E! News has confirmed that a police report was filed in the incident. “We can confirm that a battery report involving a member of the paparazzi was taken on Friday the 2nd at about 1:15 p.m. in the 300 block of Mesa Drive, but we are not confirming the names in the complaint,” Officer Karen Rayner of LAPD Media Relations said.

[From E! News]

No one from Sean Penn’s camp has responded as of yet. I find it really hard to figure out who to sympathize with here. Yeah, celebrities know that when they become famous, photographers are going to hound them. But when you see videos of the way the paparazzi does it – how many there are, how loud they are, how close they are – it’s hard not to sympathize with anyone living like that. I would never want to be famous for that reason alone. The excessive money would probably help soften the blow though. Obviously Sean Penn wasn’t being surrounded by a throng of paps. But I can see how, over the years, the sight of any photographer could get to be too much. We all have our breaking point, and Sean Penn’s is obviously a shorter distance than most people’s.

That said, he’s still responsible for his actions. I can imagine why he might have done what he did, but I’m not saying it’s okay. He assaulted a man who wasn’t harming him in any way, just annoying him. Oh, and he looked like an absolute buffoon doing it, according to these TMZ photos. Being that Jordan Dawes is a paparazzo, I’m assuming it’s safe to say he’ll be filing a massive civil suit shortly. I’m betting Penn will settle quietly out of court – I’m guessing $15,000. That just feels like the right number for being kicked by Sean Penn, and just enough to get the guy to drop his case.

My question is, when will Dawes’ pictures come out? Those have got to be some interesting shots.

Here’s Sean running from the paps in August.