Famous Slapping Incident, #1

Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor slapped a police officer during a traffic stop on June 14, 1989 in Beverly Hills, CA.

The officer had pulled the actress over for expired tags on her Rolls Royce. When he went to check for other violations, Gabor drove off. The cop gave chase and stopped her a second time, placing her under arrest. She slapped him and claimed it was self-defense because, she said, he had used excessive force in arresting her. She added that her treatment by the police was “like Nazi Germany”.

At her trial three months later, Gabor violated a gag order by calling a prosecution witness, “a little punk with a hairdo like a girl”. She tried to make amends by telling the witness that she spoke Turkish. He responded by saying, “So? I’m from Iran.” Gabor replied, “That’s close enough”.

Gabor also stormed out of the courtroom during the prosecutor’s closing statement, in which the jury was told that she “craves media attention. . . and abused two weeks of this process for her own self-aggrandizement”. Her attorney objected when the prosecutor said, “the defendant doesn’t know the meaning of truth”.

On Sept. 27, 1989, the jury found Zsa Zsa Gabor guilty of driving without a license and for driving with an open container of alcohol, but acquitted her of disobeying a police officer when she drove away. Zsa Zsa was sentenced to 72 hours in jail and was required to perform 120 hours of community service. She was also required to pay $12,937 in fines and restitution and to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.