NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. has been formally charged with the misdemeanor of forcible touching after he was accused of groping a woman at a New York City bar on Sunday night.
The charges come after Gooding voluntarily surrendered himself for questioning to authorities in New York on Thursday.
In a subsequent press conference, Gooding’s attorney Mark Heller said his client had fully cooperated with investigators and expected to be completely exonerated.
“In my 50 years, almost, of practicing law, I have never seen a case like this one because there is not a scintilla of criminal culpability that can be attributed to Mr. Cuba Gooding Jr. after I have extensively, with my staff, reviewed the video of almost two hours which reflects the entire event for which we are here today,” Heller said during the press conference per CNN. “Mr. Gooding has not acted inappropriately in any shape or form. Nothing in the video could even be considered ambiguous and I, frankly, am shocked and horrified that this case is being prosecuted.”
Gooding Jr. was accused of drunkenly groping a woman’s breast at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge in Manhattan on Sunday. He has conceded to being present at the bar and interacting with fans during the alleged incident but maintains his innocence.
A source with the NYPD told CNN that the woman claims she became angry at the alleged groping and an argument ensued before she left the bar to report the incident to the police. The NYPD Manhattan Special Victims Squad is investigating the incident, CNN reported.
Gooding Jr. faced similar allegations in 2012 when a bartender at the Old Absinthe House in the French Quarter of New Orleans accused him of pushing her. However, the charges in that case were ultimately dropped.
