James Mee, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy who arrested actor Mel Gibson four years ago, setting off a drunken, anti-Semitic tirade, is now suing his agency, claiming superiors retaliated against him after he refused to clean up the Hollywood star’s arrest report. Mee claims that the day after the arrest, Lieutenant Crystal Miranda and Sergeant Kevin Finch ordered him to delete the anti-Semitic remarks from his official report and instead put them in a supplemental report that would be marked “confidential.”

 

Mee’s counsel insists that Gibson’s public relations work for the department and Sheriff Lee Baca played a role in how the deputy was treated after the DUI arrest in Malibu.

 

Mee says he’s been passed over for promotions and unfairly scrutinized by higher-ups since the publicized encounter with Gibson on July 28, 2006. His attorney says people in the Sheriff’s department assumed Mee leaked details of Gibson’s remarks because the deputy is Jewish.

 

The lawsuit accuses County of Los Angeles of religious discrimination, harassment and illegal retaliation.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Deputy Who Arrested Mel Gibson in 2006 Sues Sheriff's Department (by Robert Faturechi, Los Angeles Times)

Deputy Who Arrested Mel Gibson Says County Shares Actor's Bias (Courthouse News Service)

James Mee v. Los Angeles County (Superior Court, Los Angeles) (pdf)