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Check Mate For Sheriff's in Gibson Case

Posted Jul 29th 2006 1:54PM by TMZ Staff

Let me borrow a line from Mel Gibson's play book -- The L.A. County Sheriff's Department is f****d."

The Department has been caught in a huge lie that they now can't undo. My sources say the Sheriff's officials are scrambling at this very moment, trying to figure out what to do and the Sheriff himself, Lee Baca, has been involved from the outset (I'll explain more about this on Monday).

Here's the problem. The deputy who arrested Mel Gibson wrote an eight page report detailing Gibson's rants and aggressive conduct, but officials ordered the arresting deputy to sanitize his report, eliminating the four pages TMZ has posted on the web site. The sanitized report was signed and became the party line that the arrest occurred "without incident." That is a blatant lie -- a lie the Sheriff's department never thought would be exposed.

When I first called a Sheriff's spokesman to comment on the story we were about to publish, he told me I was "wrong" and the story was "erroneous." When he said that, I had plenty of information but I was not in physical possession of the four phantom pages.

When I finally got the documents and called the spokesman back, his response changed. He said when the case is presented to the D.A. it will have all the information about the case. Do you see how that begs the question? Of course, now it will have all the information because we exposed the Sheriff and Mel Gibson.

This was a cover up and there's no way of getting around it. The Sheriff said it happened "without incident" and that's just a blatant lie. Now there's an official, signed report that does not have the information TMZ has published, so something's rotten in Denmark.

As far as I know, the arresting deputy has not even re-written the information in this new "supplemental report" that for some reason was supposed to be locked in the watch commander's safe.

The Sheriff didn't get this sloppy overnight. Clearly many celebrities must have gone where Mel Gibson did on Friday. We have more information that we will publish on Monday, but The L.A. County Sheriff's Department must be investigated.

What do you think about this story? Call the TMZ comment line and we may post your raves and rants on TMZ! Call toll-free 866-895-8877 now!

Tags: arrrest, mel gibson DUI arrest, MelGibsonDuiArrest

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(Page 6 of 16) Previous 15 Comments | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

76. Gosh Mel. You've still got it. Your imbibing a smidge too much can keep the gossips in fuel for a month. But just between you and me, I think you need to cut back on the booze if it causes you to loose control.
The rest of us of course are perfect, and none of us have ever had one too many, nor have we ever said anything we regret. So oooo
because we are so perfect, we will keep kicking the dog even though it is dead.
Good luck to you Mel, and Congrats to the dept. that shows maybe they are a little more human than they have ever been given credit for. Papzz you suck.

Posted at 2:40AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Kat

77. fight dude fight

Posted at 3:38AM on Jul 30th 2006 by bob

78. Having a brother with a drinking problem that is now under control, I know from seeing the 98% of his life while sober that what he says when drunk does not even remotely reflect what he truly feels. He is a completely different person when drunk. Could Mr. Gibson have just heard of some in Lebanon killed by Israel and hated the loss of life? Could he have then gone on a tirade having no idea what he was saying? ABSOLUTELY! You all want to condemn a man with an illness for what he said when he could not control the dark side that exists inside all of you. Imagine for a moment that every word you ever thought, at the worst moment in your life, was heard. Then you'll know what Mel Gibson did. Deeds speak louder than words. I feel bad for Mr. Gibson. His deeds are nothing like what his remarks show, and shame on others for think the reporting of it is "journalism". We all have demons. And none of you reading this want yours exposed as Mr. Gibson's were. Would the same have been done to Steven Speilberg, Rob Reiner, or Michael Moore? I think not.

Posted at 3:54AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Alec Baldwin's better side

79. #28, 32,33,54 for your posts which I found balance and informative...but to excuse Mel Gibson for his drunken behavior and to condone his threats to LASD is disgraceful, these are criminal offenses.

TMZ should be commended in exposing the hypocrisy of the double standards for some celebrities who commit crimes. To sanitize an official legal document where the defendent was also video taped after he was stopped in the commission of his crime, and additional unlawful acts followed is just detestable.

Posted at 4:19AM on Jul 30th 2006 by girladvenger

80. I wonder how it would have been handled by the Police if Mr Gibson had hit another vehicle (doing 87 mph) and harmed someone's family ?
For them to minimize the danger he put others on that road is a travesty.
Why was his mug shot not posted ? Nick Nolte and so many others are probably still ashamed of theirs and Mr Gibson should not be treated any differently . it may help with his wake up call.
I think a full investigation and the release of the photo and details are needed and what is needed to protect citizens...that is what we pay our taxes for.

Posted at 6:24AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Valerie Jamieson

81. a complement is in order to TMZ for rooting out the true facts as this is unraveling. I look forward to see what else comes to light

..........and to "Chris" who makes disparaging remarks about the media.....he has NO idea what he's talking about. I didn't work my entire adult life for an organization that is bullsh**(his quote).

Posted at 6:41AM on Jul 30th 2006 by mark

82. Driving drunk should be the out rage toward Mr.Gibson not his stupid tirade.I agree that the media is one sided in reporting the war in the middle east .You can tell it's an election year.All the candidates are reading from the same page when it comes to the middle east.
As for the Sheriff''s Dept report..I would like to read past reports on their drunken citizens to see if they're as detailed.I bet not.

Posted at 6:48AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Pauline Moeller

83. Mel Gibson is a lowlife, and the only reason he made Passion of the Christ was for huge profits. I can't believe that I once used to like this clown and his films.

Posted at 7:36AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Mike

84. I mostly agree w/ Gary (above), except that the reports were edited for reasons other than law enforcement. The fact seems lost on everyone in here that officers fill out reports submit them to their supervisors who read them for relevancy and have them re-written everyday across this country. Which of course, is the likely reason the reports Mr. Levin has are not signed. NO STORY THERE. I doubt this fact was lost on Mr. Levin. So why mention it when you can make a buck.

Most of the crap edited out of this report would have been done so because any decent attorney would have used those drunken statements against any officer who bothered to put them in a report, that had not put every drunken slur of anyone he/she had ever arrested in previous reports. Whatever a drunk blabbered on about, is not relevant to the report unless it tended to prove the charge. That is why supervisors tell them to edit the garbage out. Because it tends to show the prejudice of an officer in charging a particular person. Anything that the officer put in the report that didn't prove the charge could have ended up biting them in the a** if the statement itself was not caught on tape. One must wonder if the report for this story was not retrieved from the garbage.... because that is what it is... garbage. Not a story.

If he is guilty of a DUI/DWI (or whatever they call it in CA) and they can prove it, give him the same treatment any other dilweed would have recieved and nothing more. The author of this story attempting to profit from discarded racial slurs is what it is. Pathetic Tabloid garbage.

Posted at 7:58AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Howard O.

85. No person is above the law. Mel should be treated like any other drunk driver. There are very strict consequences in California for driving under the influence. His alcohol level was .12 and he could have killed somebody. His "statement" that he has taken steps to heal himself are not sufficient. He needs to have alcohol counseling, perform community service and probably to have his driver's license suspended for 6 months. I live in New York City and alcohol abuse has just played a part in the rape/murrder of a lovely 18 year old high school senior girl last week. Alcohol abuse is an epidemic in the US and I hope Mel is punished appropriately. I hope he makes a film about the dangers of alcohol.

Posted at 8:07AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Paul Perkins

86. No one should be held accountable for what they say when they are drunk. Obviously, Mel Gibson has admitted to being an alcoholic and he needs help. You can't kill the guy for that. He's got a disease. He knows Jesus was a Jew. Let's not vilify the guy for his mistake. In the bible it says to forgive one another 7 times 70 times. Before this whole thing goes completely out of proportion, let's try to think how we might like to be treated in the same situation. He has a family and obviously, they are going to all struggle with this. I still think Mel's great, he's just fallen and I can't hate him for that. We are all human.

Posted at 8:09AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Julie

87. Unbelieveable! Why is it that when someone gains celebrity (noteriety?), peolple treat their views as if they are of any importance whatsoever. Here we have a B actor who had the good fortune of being in a moderately entertaining series, and we treat him as someone of stature. His politics is about as deep as his acting ability, ie, not very. Time to send the resident alien home. Another lousey foreigner bashing the American Justice System, its underpaid heroes, and American foreign policy. Goodby Mel.

Posted at 8:19AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Rick

88. I think Harvey Levin is pissed off because he himself is a Jew. So let us say you prove that Mel Gibson is anti-semitic. Then what? Are you going to place a citizen's arrest too? I think you're just using him as a scapegoat for all the kids that bugged you for having a jew nose in the first place. What he said is true, Jews do cause all the wars. It's quite simple: Look it up yourself and you will see. Anyway, last time I checked it's not against the law to hate Jews.

Get lives.

Posted at 8:22AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Faith Nunya

89. Dave Sanders comments about the Jewish controlled media and blaming the occupation of Palestine by Israel for the World Trade Center bombing and Americans are dying because we support Israel is a joke! Israel is defending itself and has the right to do so. Israel has warned people to get out of an area and for whatever reasons have not. No one wants to see civilians killed but at the same time is it Israels' fault that people are being used as human shields? And for the record I would not see or rent a Mel Gibson ever again.

Posted at 8:48AM on Jul 30th 2006 by Seth

90. MEL was trying to get to his creeb and a cowboy decided to make himself to be somebody by f****** with the coolest guy in hollywood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted at 8:55AM on Jul 30th 2006 by rudolf

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