Michael Jackson displays his bruised arm in an undated photo released by the office of his attorney, Mark Geragos. (AP)

Santa Barbara, Jan. 1 (Reuters): The Santa Barbara county sheriff has dismissed claims by Michael Jackson that he was roughed up by deputies during his arrest on child molestation charges and threatened to charge the pop star with making a false police report.

Sheriff Jim Anderson, speaking to reporters at a news conference to rebut Jackson’s claims, also showed a videotape of the 45-year-old entertainer being taken into custody inside an airport hanger and excerpts of an audiotape made during his subsequent ride to a police station.

On the audiotape Jackson initially tells deputies that his handcuffs were “a little tight”, but later assures them that he is “wonderful, thank you” and can be heard whistling, singing and humming during the ride.

The deputies can be heard asking Jackson several times if he was comfortable and advising the one-time King of Pop how to sit in the car seat to avoid discomfort from the handcuffs.

The videotape shows Jackson stepping off his private plane with attorney Mark Geragos and having a discussion with authorities before he is placed into the car.

“Michael Jackson was treated with the utmost respect and courtesy during his arrest, transport and booking and release by all members of the department,” Anderson said. “He was in no way manhandled or abused.”

He later added: “I think Mr. Jackson has seriously hurt his credibility.”

Anderson said that on the tape Jackson, can be heard as he leaves the jail thanking one of the detectives who escorted him there and can be seen waving to the crowd with the arm that he said was injured.

“I am accepting the extremely serious allegations made by Mr. Jackson as a formal citizen complaint against members of the Santa Barbara’s sheriff’s department,” Anderson said, adding that he had asked for the complaint to be “thoroughly and completely” investigated by the state attorney-general.

California attorney-general Bill Lockyer said at Anderson’s request, he had asked investigators from his office to look into the Jackson arrest and whether the entertainer’s civil rights had been violated.

”I cannot predict when our investigation will be completed, but we will work as quickly as possible to conduct a thorough and fair investigation and review all of the facts before reaching a conclusion,” Lockyer said in a statement.

Anderson said that if the probe vindicated the conduct of the Santa Barbara sheriff's deputies, he would ask that Jackson be charged with filing a false report of police misconduct.

Jackson, during an interview broadcast on CBS on Sunday, told TV personality Ed Bradley that he had been treated roughly by police, suffered bruises to his upper forearm from the handcuffs and was locked in a filthy jail bathroom for 45 minutes.

Anderson, who did not take questions from reporters, noted that the entire booking process lasted only 63 minutes and said the jail bathroom had been cleaned shortly before Jackson asked to use it.

He said the bruises shown on Jackson's in pictures provided to news organizations by the singer were well above the area where he had been handcuffed.

Mark Geragos, Jackson's lawyer, said he welcomed the state investigation into the entertainer's arrest.

But he also asked that the scope of the probe be widened to consider whether Santa Barbara officials had acted improperly by disregarding an earlier Los Angeles social welfare investigation that found the child abuse allegations against Jackson to be“totally unfounded.”

Jackson was charged on Dec. 18 with nine counts of child molestation. He is due in court in January for an arraignment.