MALIBU, Calif., July 29 (UPI) -- Actor Mel Gibson apologized Saturday for his obscene remarks to sheriff's deputies who arrested him for drunken driving in the Los Angeles area.
"I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior," Gibson said in a statement. "They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself. I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry."
Gibson was pulled over on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu early Friday morning. TMZ.com said the Los Angeles sheriff's deputy who stopped the Oscar-winning filmmaker reported that Gibson became truculent, using obscenities, threatening to "get even" and asking him if he was a Jew.
The Web site says that after Deputy James Mee wrote a full report describing Gibson's behavior, superior officers decided it was "inflammatory."
They allegedly talked about Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ," which was described in some quarters as anti-Semitic, and worried about the effect of press reports of Gibson's behavior given the situation in the Middle East.
Mee was reportedly told to write an expurgated version of his report and promised that the full report would go to the District Attorney, TMZ.com reported.
