Mel Gibson has admitted slapping ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, but says she was behaving “erratically” while holding their baby daughter and he was just trying to calm her down. Oksana claims he punched her and knocked out her teeth last January. According to court papers obtained by TMZ, Mel says during an argument, Oksana started screaming, picked up the baby and ran into the backyard. After Mel pleaded with her to go back inside, she ran inside to her son Alexander‘s room and started “swinging Lucia erratically in her arms, jerking her body from side to side to keep Lucia out of my reach,” says Mel, who goes on to say 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.” He explains: “I slapped Oksana one time with an open hand in an attempt to bring her back to reality. I did not slap her hard, I was just trying to shock her so that she would stop screaming, continuing shaking Lucia back and forth. I did not hit Oksana with a closed fist, as she alleges. I did not ever punch her in the face or in the temple or anywhere else, not then or at any other time. While I do not believe I handled the situation as well as I should have, I was worried about the rough way Oksana was shaking and tossing Lucia around.”