Surveillance video shows Cuba Gooding Jr. 'touching the thigh and breast' of his accuser in the presence of his girlfriend (Watch)

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Surveillance video shows Cuba Gooding Jr. 'touching the thigh and breast' of his accuser in the presence of his girlfriend (Watch)

 

Surveillance video which appears to show Cuba Gooding Jr. touching the thigh and breast of the woman accusing him of groping has been released.

In the video obtained by TMZ,  Gooding and his girlfriend, Claudine De Niro were sitting on a couch in the Magic Hour Rooftop Lounge in NYC, when the accuser came and sat down next to them.  Almost immediately, Gooding reached over Claudine and gently placed his hand on the accuser's left thigh.

Seconds later, his hand moves up to her breast before the accuser puts her hand on his. What happens next is open to interpretation.

The video also shows another man who walked over and then stood in front of the group. He placed his hands on the shoulders of Gooding and the accuser, as he spoke to them before taking away a drink away from the actor's hand. A few more people join the group, and everyone's casually chatting for a few more minutes. They all walk away separately but in the same direction  about 3 minutes after the initial touching. There's no argument.

A few minutes later, Cuba and Claudine were downstairs lounging on a couch and making out. A security man for the bar, was standing next to the couch when the accuser approached him and started arguing.

According to TMZ,  the accuser whose face was blurred to protect her identity, told the security: "Yes, he did."

While the pair were still arguing, Cuba got up, stumbled and then walked right past the accuser and left. Claudine and the security guard immediately followed him as he left. 

This comes after the Oscar-winning actor was arrested yesterday evening on suspicion of forcible touching after he turned himself in.

According to police, Gooding touched a woman without her consent on Sunday night in Midtown Manhattan. The woman filed a police report.

The 29-year-old woman told cops the actor grabbed her breast while they were socializing around 9 p.m. at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar and Lounge on 7th Avenue in Midtown. She also claimed that Gooding was “highly intoxicated” and that, after the alleged grab, she got into an argument with him that had to be broken up by security.

Gooding denied the accusations when approached by TMZ on Wednesday. “I trust the system and the process,” he said. “There’s a tape that shows what really happened. That’s the most important thing.”

 

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