Photo: Juan Rico, Fame Pictures

Kiefer Sutherland is said to be speaking with lawyers today to plan the best way to handle the aftermath of his early Tuesday morning altercation with Proenza Schouler designer, Jack McCollough. Latest reports indicate as a legal resident of New York, he is entitled to receive a "desk appearance ticket" if he surrenders himself at a local police station, meaning he will not be immediately taken into custody.

Sutherland allegedly head-butted McCollough at an after-party at SoHo's trendy SubMercer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Ball, sending the young designer to hospital with a broken nose. McCollough's friend Dasha Zhukova, the art-collecting girlfriend of high-profile Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, hosted the party.

But Sutherland's behavior has made him some powerful enemies in the New York fashion community, among them Anna Wintour, the powerful Vogue editor who controls the annual Costume Institute Ball.

A source at Conde Nast tells StyleList: "Anna is furious that the Met Gala got upstaged by Kiefer doing something stupid at an after-party that wasn't even part of her event. Now that's all anyone is talking about, not her party. And she is so genuinely fond of Jack, she has supported him and Lazaro for years, she really feels they are part of the future of American fashion. So she's doubly annoyed."

And a friend of McCollough and his design partner, Lazaro Hernandez, tells StyleList there is a such a thing as bad publicity.

"This whole thing isn't doing the guys any good because their whole thing is that they're celebrity-friendly," says the pal. "I mean, Jack knows Brooke [Shields] and there was never any problem with them that night, he didn't knock her over or whatever **** was reported the next day. To get into this whole public fight with Kiefer because he was drunk isn't doing their label any good, they don't need this kind of publicity."

Meanwhile, Sutherland's friends near his West Village home are standing up for the rambunctious actor.

"Kiefer is a popular guy in the neighborhood but he likes to drink," says a neighbor. "He has his favorite Italian restaurant in the Village and the manager would let him sit in the back with a bottle of Jack Daniels in the afternoon between lunch and dinner when there wasn't anybody coming in off the street. I mean, he would drink a lot, but he never caused any problem. We all know him."