Cuba Gooding Jr. Arrested for Allegedly Groping a Woman in a Manhattan Bar

Cuba Gooding Jr. was arrested for allegedly groping a woman in a Manhattan bar after turning himself in on Thursday. Gooding has denied the claims.

The Oscar-winning actor turned himself in to the Manhattan Special Victim’s Unit with attorney Mark Heller by his side, reports TMZ. He was booked on forcible touching, a misdemeanor.

Heller previously told TMZ he had surveillance footage from the Magic Hour Rooftop Bat and Lounge, where the alleged groping took place Sunday night. The attorney said the footage showed “no criminality” by Gooding and suggested he might not turn himself in. However, Gooding chose to turn himself in to New York City Police instead, as previously reported.

Heller told reporters during a press conference that he has seen more than two hours of footage from the club and believes it shows nothing criminal Heller insisted Gooding, 51, is innocent.

The alleged crime happened at around 9 p.m. ET at the Magic Hour bar, where Gooding was taking photos with fans. The alleged victim claims Gooding grabbed her breast, staring a verbal altercation. Security stopped the argument from escalating further. The woman called 911 hours later.

“I trust the system. The system and the process speaks for itself,” Gooding Jr. told TMZ. “There’s a tape that shows what really happened. That’s the most important thing.”

The actor continued, “I was at the club, I left. I met a bunch of people, I said hello, I took pictures, and… You know, you have to have faith in what people say… In this time and age we have to let people speak for themselves. We have to let people express themselves.”

Gooding said he was going to give the legal process “the chance to show what really happened, what went down.”

This is not the first time women have accused Gooding of groping. In 2012, he was accused of the behavior at a New Mexico bar. He reportedly grabbed multiple women and punched a man trying to take a picture with him. He later told TMZ the claims were “bulls–.”

However, Jezebel published photos provided by one of the women, identified only as Sara, who claimed they showed Gooding’s rowdy behavior.

Gooding is best known for his breakout role in Boyz N The Hood and his Oscar-winning role in Jerry Maguire. He most recently starred as O.J. Simpson in FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and as Dominc Banks and Matt Miller in American Horror Story.

Photo credit: DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images