Mel Gibson did not hit Oksana, he slapped her

In a sworn declaration obtained by TMZ, Mel Gibson admits to slapping Oksana Grigorieva but only because she was shaking the baby around and he feared for her safety.

During their argument on January 6, 2010, Oksana alleges Mel punched her in the temple and mouth, knocking out two of her teeth. According to Mel, however, during the argument, Oksana grabbed baby Lucia out of the bassinet and screamed, “Stop yelling or you will make her into a retarded brain damaged idiot!” Which, if this is made up, is a pretty accurate imitation of how Oksana’s speaks.

Oksana ran into her older son’s room and then out into the backyard. Mel says the yard is set on different levels and dimly lit making it a hazardous place to run at night. He says Oksana ran about 75 yards near thorny trees. Mel should have added that 25 more and she would have ran for a touchdown and might have spiked the baby.

Anyway, Mel begged her to bring Lucia inside and Oksana ran back into her older son’s room. She “started swinging Lucia erratically in her arms, jerking her body from side to side to keep Lucia out of my reach.”

Oksana was “hysterical” and her “rapid movements were causing Lucia’s little body to be flung from one side to the other, her head shaking violently.” Mel, fearing Shaken Baby Syndrome, slapped Oksana with an open hand to “bring her back to reality.” Mel says he didn’t slap her hard, just hard enough so she would stop screaming and shaking the baby.

In retrospect, maybe pushing a baby in front of Mel’s face and telling him he’s going to make it retarded while shaking it around wasn’t a good way to stop an argument. Hindsight is 20/20, you know.