Actor Rudi YoungbloodRudi Youngblood was released today. He is best known for Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto”.  The 42-year-old spent New Year’s Eve in detention, was convicted, and is expected to be deported.

Rudy Youngblood was arrested after an incidental chase at the junction of Thera and Patision streets in the early hours of December 27. Before ending up in the hands of police, the actor had hit a parked motorbike outside the police station, threatened the officer on duty with a knife, and fled on the run to avoid arrest.

He was given a 10-month jail sentence with a three-year suspension but was not released because he did not have a residence visa to stay in Greece. The deportation procedure was initiated against him.

“I felt threatened and defended myself”

“I found myself in a situation I never expected to be in. I didn’t attack the officers, I felt threatened and defended myself. I didn’t even know from a badge that they were police officers to comply because I had nothing to fear. Imagine I didn’t realize that my visa had expired, I learned this after the court,” Rudy Youngblood told MEGA.

He claimed that he had “had two drinks with a friendly couple” and that “I could have asked them as witnesses in court to testify that I was not drunk”. “After all, I am on heavy medication and I am not allowed to consume a large amount of alcohol,” he added.

“I am an Indian American and have an intimacy with knife-like objects. I am an activist and anti-violence, I help people who have AIDS and abused children. I know martial arts, I had this object on me but I didn’t use it,” Rudy Youngblood said.