Cruise Does Daddy Damage Control as Katie Introduces Discipline

By Kat Giantis

Hey, remember earlier this month when Tom Cruise's lawyer sniped that they were going to let Katie Holmes' side "play the media until they wear everyone out"? And how a source told E! News last week that when Tom reunites with Suri, "There will be no photo op."

Well, that was then.

The inevitable Tom Cruise Is a Devoted Dad campaign has kicked off in earnest, with the actor parading 6-year-old Suri before an army of photographers this week in New York.

On Wednesday, dozens of cameras clicked as Cruise exited his Manhattan hotel with Suri in his arms, and the coverage continued a short time later as they boarded a helicopter reportedly bound for New Jersey.

What happened in between, however, has sparked some debate.

In a story that has since been deleted, the New York Daily News accused Tom's driver of leading shutterbugs on a "perilous high-speed chase" through the city, with father and daughter in the backseat. Their SUV supposedly ran "a half-dozen red lights in the frenzied pursuit."

But Cruise's camp adamantly denies the dangerous, "Mission: Impossible"-style chase, insisting it never happened. Local police also deny receiving any calls about speeding vehicles.

The accusations came just two days after the car chauffeuring Katie and Suri back to their New York apartment was clipped by a garbage truck.

Suri, for her part, seems over the media attention that exploded after Holmes surprised Cruise by filing for divorce and asking for full custody, and has raged on following their lightning-fast settlement. Read on ...