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Jewish Cop Busted Mel Gibson
Deputy James Mee Takes Actor's Anti-Semitic Tirade In Stride
(CBS News) CALABASAS, Calif. 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.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy James Mee, who is Jewish, said 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.
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?"
Deputy Mee would not comment specifically on Gibson's remarks.
"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."
The Los Angeles Times, citing unidentified sources, said a portion of Mee's arrest report was placed under lock and key while police officials discussed how much information about the arrest should be made public.
"They were like chickens running around with their heads cut off," one source told the Times.
The Sheriff's Department's account of the arrest 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 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 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, Whitmore said.
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.
In his statement, Gibson said he has struggled with alcoholism and taken steps "to ensure my return to health."
Mel Gibson's publicist says the actor has sought treatment for his battle with alcohol. "Mel has entered into an ongoing program of recovery," Alan Nierob told theshowbuzz.com on Monday. "The guy is trying to stay alive."
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."
The arrest has led to intense specuation about the impact it may have on Gibson's career.
"I can't remember an incident that is as jaw-droppingly grotesque for a career as this one," Hollywood media expert Michael Levine said on CBS News' The Early Show.
Gibson, 50, won a best-director Oscar for 1995's "Braveheart," and starred in the "Lethal Weapon" and "Mad Max" films, among others.
(2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc.)
