Naomi Campbell Begins 5 Days Of Community Service Monday At Manhattan Sanitation Garage

Monday, March 19th 2007, 9:18 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Naomi Campbell, wearing black stilettos and slinging dark work boots over her shoulder, traded the catwalk for community service Monday at a sanitation garage to start a five-day sentence for assaulting her maid.

The 36-year-old supermodel arrived at the Manhattan District 3 Garage at Pier 36 on the Hudson in a black sport utility vehicle. She'll be pushing a broom or mop at the garage for her guilty plea to misdemeanor assault for throwing a cell phone at her maid over a pair of missing jeans.

Campbell was met by an official of the garage who escorted her through the dirty, steel double doors of the building. Her ensemble also included chocolate brown pants, a short fitted coat with a flared bottom, dark sunglasses and a newsboy-type cap over a short hairdo.

She did not acknowledge the horde of assembled media.

Unlike singer Boy George, who served a similar community service sentence in full view of TV cameras, the sentencing judge allowed Campbell to be assigned to work indoors. The judge also granted Campbell's request to delay her service until after several fashion shows.

Campbell, who has a reputation for angry outbursts, pleaded guilty in January for hitting Ana Scolavino in the back of the head with the phone last March. Scolavino was treated for a head injury.

In exchange for her guilty plea, Campbell was ordered to pay Scolavino's medical expenses of $363, do five days of community service and attend a two-day anger-management program.

While community service has been employed in U.S. courts for decades, the punishment has gained a higher profile after the celebrity sentences.

TV cameras were on the scene when former Culture Club frontman Boy George found himself using a broom and wearing a reflective orange vest as he swept a driveway at a Sanitation Department depot in August for his five-day community service stint.

The 45-year-old singer, born George O'Dowd, was ordered to work for the department after pleading guilty last March to falsely reporting a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment. The responding officers found cocaine instead.

While he didn't respond to requests for comment at the time, he told the makers of a British documentary: ``I've enjoyed it in a bizarre, perverse Boy George kind of way.''