NEW YORK, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Actor Russell Crowe claims the U.S. legal system needs work, suggesting he was wrongly charged after chucking a telephone at a New York hotel clerk last year.
"Your legal system is very open to be misused," said the Australian star, who pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and paid out a six-figure settlement to Mercer Hotel clerk Nestor Estrada, the New York Daily News reported Friday.
Crowe told CBS News that he "absolutely" regrets the incident, but added that hitting Estrada with a phone was "minor."
"Where I come from, a confrontation like that, as basic and simple as that, would have been satisfied with a handshake and an apology," Crowe told "60 Minutes" in an interview that will air Sunday.
Crowe threw the phone at Estrada on June 6, 2005, when the hotel clerk couldn't complete a phone call to Crowe's wife in Australia. He also suggests his temper keeps him sane.
