'Top Gear' host could face assault charges

Sacked Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson may have another problem on his hands.

Hours after the BBC dismissed him for verbally and physically accosting a producer on his show, police in North Yorkshire (the site of the now infamous "fracas") confirmed to Britain's Sky News that they requested a copy of the network's internal report and will take legal action "where necessary."

Clarkson was originally suspended two weeks ago for a verbal and physical assault against Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon after tensions boiled over after a long day shooting on location.

Clarkson reportedly flew into a rage when he learned that the kitchen at their hotel had closed and no hot food was available, and then took his anger out on Tymon.

Tymon released a statement Wednesday morning that reads, "I respect Lord Hall's detailed findings and I am grateful to the BBC for their thorough and swift investigation into this very regrettable incident, against a background of intense media interest and speculation. I've worked on Top Gear for almost a decade, a programme I love. Over that time, Jeremy and I had a positive and successful working relationship, making some landmark projects together. He is a unique talent and I am well aware that many will be sorry his involvement in the show should end in this way."

Not surprisingly, Tymon is taking a lot of abuse from the show's fans on Twitter. Many argued that he should have been the one to get fired, while others are threatening to finish the beating that Clarkson started.

In a recent column for the U.K.'s Sun, Clarkson thanked the 900,000 supporters who signed the "Bring Back Clarkson" petition but felt the writing was on the wall.

"You can start as many campaigns as you like and call on the support of politicians from all sides, but the day must come when you have to wave goodbye to the big monsters, and move on," he wrote. "We lose one animal and get another. The world turns."

Clarkson has made no public comment, other than to update his Twitter bio. It now reads, "I used to be a presenter on the BBC2 motoring show, Top Gear."

London's Telegraph is reporting that the BBC does not plan to cancel Top Gear despite Clarkson's firing and they are already trying to woo British radio host and known car-lover Chris Evans, who had been a guest on the show. However, Evans shot down that notion on his show this morning, saying, "Not only is it not true, it's absolute nonsense."

Meanwhile, the contracts for both of Clarkson's co-hosts, Richard Hammond and James May, also expire soon and neither has made his intentions known.

Hammond lamented the outcome, calling it "such a sad end to an era."

Can Top Gear continue? May told a cadre of reporters gathered outside his house, "I'm sure it will in some way. It existed before us and it's been reformatted several times. But I think of the three of us as a package. It works for very complicated reasons that a lot of people don't fully understand."

Then May, who has been spending his downtime live-tweeting his new-found unemployment, excused himself, saying, "I desperately need to finish writing the eBay listing for my Ferrari."