CALABASAS, California - The sheriff's deputy who arrested Mel Gibson for
drunken driving said in an interview that he feels bad for damage to the star's
reputation but hopes Gibson thinks twice before drinking and driving.
Mel Gibson is pictured
in this Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department booking photograph taken
July 28, 2006 and released on July 31, after Gibson was arrested on
suspicion of Driving Under the Infuence (DUI) in
Malibu,California.[Reuters] |
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy James Mee told The Associated Press on
Monday that he considered it a routine arrest and did not take any comments made
by Gibson seriously.
"I don't take pride in hurting Mr. Gibson," said Mee, a 17-year deputy. "What
I had hoped out of this is that he would think twice before he gets behind the
wheel of a car and was drinking. That would be my hope that this would
accomplish that. I don't want to ruin his career. I don't want to defame him in
any way or hurt him."
The first fallout from the arrest may have already come with Monday's
announcement by ABC that it had canceled a planned miniseries about the
Holocaust that it was developing with Gibson's Icon Productions.
"Given that it has been nearly two years and we have yet to see the first
draft of a script, we have decided to no longer pursue this project with Icon,"
ABC said in a one-sentence statement.
Network spokesman Kevin Brockman declined to comment Monday night on whether
the decision was motivated by Gibson's arrest.
Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Department sent prosecutors its case Monday,
including an official police report that includes claims that Gibson made
anti-Semitic remarks and threatened a deputy, a law enforcement official said.
The report also claimed that a tequila bottle was found in Gibson's car when
he was pulled over on the Pacific Coast Highway, according to the law
enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the matter.
Gibson reportedly unleashed an anti-Semitic tirade and made other offensive
comments when he was pulled over, initially for speeding, early Friday in
Malibu, California, and was then arrested for driving under the influence of
alcohol.
An arrest report signed by Mee and posted on the celebrity news Web site TMZ
quoted Gibson as saying, "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the
world," and asked the arresting officer, "Are you a Jew?"
Gibson released a lengthy statement Saturday apologizing for saying
"despicable" things to sheriff's deputies when he was arrested, but he did not
elaborate. A sheriff's booking photo released Monday showed a neat but tired
looking Gibson leaning toward the camera with a half-smile.
Mee, who is Jewish, would not comment specifically on what Gibson said.
"That stuff is booze talking," the deputy said in an interview outside his
home. "There's two things that booze does. It amplifies your basic personality.
If you are a laid-back kind of person, just an easy going kind of person, booze
is going to amplify that and you'll be just sitting around going how it's a
wonderful day.
"But, if you are high-strung person, it's going to amplify that and all the
bad things are going to come out."
In his statement, Gibson said he has struggled with alcoholism and taken
steps "to ensure my return to health."
The actor was "participating in an ongoing program to deal with this,"
Gibson's publicist, Alan Nierob told The Associated Press on Monday. "The guy is
trying to stay alive."
The Sheriff's Department's account of the arrest Friday made no mention of
the alleged anti-Semitic remarks and said the arrest occurred without incident.
The subsequent TMZ report triggered claims that the arrest report was
sanitized.
A sheriff's spokesman Monday defended the department's handling of the case.
"We hope we've done it with not only professionalism and intelligence, but
held to the highest standard of legal and moral imperative," spokesman Steve
Whitmore told reporters at sheriff's headquarters.
The Sheriff's Department, he said, was "convinced because of our
investigation and because of his own self-illuminating statement that he will be
convicted of driving under the influence."
A tentative arraignment date was set for September 28.
The issue of a cover-up arose in part because Gibson has supported the
Sheriff's Department. He once dressed in a deputy's uniform to film public
service announcements for Sheriff Lee Baca's Star Organization, which raises
scholarships for children of department employees. Gibson also donated $10,000
(euro7,830), Whitmore said.
Prominent Hollywood talent agent Ari Emanuel called for an industry boycott
of Gibson in a blog posted Monday.
"At a time of escalating tensions in the world, the entertainment industry
cannot idly stand by and allow Mel Gibson to get away with such tragically
inflammatory statements," he wrote. "People in the entertainment community,
whether Jew or gentile, need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at
stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with
him, even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line.
This is not the first time Gibson has faced accusations of anti-Semitism.
Gibson produced, directed and financed "The Passion of the Christ," which some
Jewish leaders said cast Jews as the killers of Jesus. Days before "Passion" was
released, Gibson's father, Hutton Gibson, was quoted as saying the Holocaust was
mostly "fiction."
Gibson, 50, won a best-director Oscar for 1995's "Braveheart," and starred in
the "Lethal Weapon" and "Mad Max" films, among others.
Associated Press Writers Jeremiah Marquez and Sandy Cohen contributed to this
report from Los Angeles.