By, Jennifer Lipman
1 min read
ByJennifer Lipman, Jennifer Lipman
The Jewish police officer who was at the receiving end of Mel Gibson’s antisemitic slurs has sued his department for harassment.
After the Hollywood star was arrested for drunk driving in 2006 Mr Gibson reportedly said: "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world".
Deputy James Mee, who made the arrest, has claimed that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department asked him to remove the comments from the arrest report because of friendship between the actor and Sheriff Lee Baca.
He said he was asked to include the antisemitic remarks in a separate report that would not be seen by members of the public.
Mr Mee also allege d that when news of Mr Gibson’s rant appeared on the gossip website TMZ, he was accused of leaking the information. He said the incident had caused him to be passed over for promotion, and made him subject to internal investigations.
Mr Mee, 55, said: "You go to work and you don't know what to expect. I'm constantly in fear."
Yael Trock, Mr Mee’s lawyer, said her client had been suspected of giving the information to TMZ “because he is Jewish.”
A spokesman for Mr Baca denied the allegations. He said: “The whole story is not being told in this lawsuit and we look forward to telling it. It has nothing to do with religious discrimination."
