The man accused of barging into the "TODAY" show and confronting Craig Melvin was marched out of an NYPD precinct Thursday ... hours after allegedly slipping past security at 30 Rock.

Check out the video ... Andrew Truelove, who police say is behind the incident, was led out of the station in handcuffs Thursday afternoon. As photographers shouted questions, he asked, "So, you actually heard about what I did?" before repeating the question and saying he'd been cooperative as officers escorted him away.

TMZ broke the story ... Truelove allegedly entered the building from the "TODAY" plaza Thursday morning and made his way into a restricted area after first asking staffers for Al Roker.

Law enforcement sources told TMZ ... the intruder couldn’t find Al and instead turned his attention to Craig ... allegedly lunging at the NBC host while yelling the N-word at him.

We’re told the man entered a stairwell and made his way backstage, near the dressing room area, though exactly how far he got remains unclear.

Truelove was booked on hate crime burglary, hate crime menacing, hate crime criminal trespass, and harassment charges.

The incident unfolded around 9 AM ET, with staff and security rushing in to detain the man before police arrested him. A photo taken inside the studio showed Craig surrounded by several people in the immediate aftermath.

Despite the alarming encounter, nobody was hurt ... and Craig and Al were both back on camera roughly 15 minutes later without mentioning the chaos that had just unfolded behind the scenes.

Our TMZ cameras later spotted a heavy police presence outside 30 Rock as investigators began looking into how the stranger managed to get so deep inside the NBC building undetected.