Well isn't this the feel good story you were looking for to take your mind off last week's tragic crane collapse?

Tatum O'Neal – who won an Academy Award at age 10 for Paper Moon, though the Oscars would probably like you to not include its trademark while mentioning this story – was arrested yesterday after being spotted buying crack on the Lower East Side, nearby her apartment.

When police nabbed her, she insisted she was just researching an acting role. Then they found a baggie of crack, a baggie of coke, and a crack pipe on her. And so she tried this line: "I've been clean for a long time. Today was the first time I was relapsing, but you guys saved me! Can you let me go?" [NYDN]

They did not. She was booked on charges of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

And yes, it was just eight months ago that she told Britney Spears to seek "recovery and get her disease of addiction together."