Mel Gibson - Gibson's Frantic Drugstore Dash To Save Daughter

MEL GIBSON has come clean about another past infraction - he once inadvertently attacked an old lady and an injured man in an Australian drugstore.

The actor admits he "wrecked the place" in Coogee, near Sydney as he dashed from the pay kiosk to the door in an effort to stop his 21-month-old daughter walking into traffic outside.

The incident took place 27 years ago, but Gibson still shudders as he recalls the moment he realised just how far he'd go to protect his kids.

The Braveheart star tells WENN, "I went to the pharmacy to buy some formula for my newly-born twins; they're now 27. I brought my 21 month old to the pharmacy with me because my wife was at home occupied with twins.

"We had a nurse from New Zealand at the time who used to help out during the day. We're in the pharmacy and I'm buying formula and I take my eyes off the child for a second and the next thing I look up and I see my child standing about 25 yards away on the edge of a curb and the nurse is at a bus stop on the other side with traffic blowing in front of her.

"My daughter is trying to go over to her and say 'Hi.' I'm thinking, 'OK, 25 yards and not much time to get the kid.'

"So, needless to say, there was a man with broken ribs and and an old lady with a footprint on her face because I completely wrecked the place to get to the kid. I broke everything and ran through things and lifted things and threw things out of the way to pluck her out before she got struck by a car.

"I had to apologise to all those people afterwards and they didn't understand. They get very angry, of course, because I knocked an old lady over."