Mel Gibson, the cover-up

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 7:51 AM on July 31, 2006.

Until it gets its story straight, the LA Sheriff's office may want to just quit making comments.

And by the way, according to TMZ.com there's an audio tape to corroborate the arresting officer's claims, so there could be a lot of egg on the face of the Sheriff's office -- not to mention the indolent reporters covering the incident.

The first news reports of Gibson's arrest, included the statement...

of Sheriffs' spokesman Steve Whitmore that he was arrested "without incident." These were accompanied by a police report (a rewritten one) cleansed of any funny business.

Those with knowledge of police reports specify that "without incident" doesn't mean that he made anti-semitic or sexist remarks, only that there was no resistance or force necessary.

All along, however, the TMZ.com report -- including PDFs of the original arrest report -- called the "without incident" comment into question. After initially being told that he could be arrested without handcuffs should he cooperate, Gibson did everything but.

"Gibson attempted to escape arrest" reads a direct quote from the original arrest report.

Without incident?

From the back of the car, in addition to the antisemitic comments, Mee's incident report reads: "Gibson repeatedly threatened me."

Then: "Gibson ... continually threatened me, saying he 'owned Malibu' and [promised] to get even with me. "

Without incident. We'll see. And then we'll see Whitmore retract his statement claiming that he had only read the second report or some such baloney. And then he will have lost no credibility as a spokesman because everyone expects a spokesman to lie.

And the lousy reporting will continue. Without incident.