MANAGERS AT THE New Orleans bar where Cuba Gooding Jr allegedly pushed a female employee have said the bartender in question doesn’t intend to press charges.
On Tuesday, police issued an arrest warrant for the 44-year-old Gooding.
Police say the bartender at the century-old Old Absinthe House told them that Gooding became upset after patrons started asking him to pose for photos with them at about 3 am.
The bartender told investigators that Gooding pushed her after she asked him to calm down and again after she told him he should leave and that police had been called. Gooding left the bar before police arrived, and was issued a court summons.
However, in a statement to The Associated Press, the French Quarter bar said its employee wouldn’t press the case.
“It is our understanding the employee involved in the alleged altercation has chosen to drop all charges against Mr. Cuba Gooding Jr,” said Old Absinthe House spokeswoman Carolyn Pierce. “While we continue to investigate this matter internally, we are hopeful that this will put an end to the matter.”
“The witness indeed has indicated that she is likely to drop the charges,” said Ryan Berni, a city spokesman. “If she does, and after prosecutors review the evidence, a determination will be made as to whether to dismiss the charges.”
Calls to Gooding’s attorney were not immediately returned, but his publicist, Nancy Kane, told the AP that “Mr Gooding, his representative and the New Orleans authorities … are moving swiftly to resolve this misunderstanding.”
