A 1985 altercation in a Connecticut bar that allegedly involved Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh led to the arrest of one of his close friends at Yale, a copy of an unredacted police report on the incident provided to CNN Tuesday shows.
In the New Haven, Connecticut, police department report, a man named Dom Cozzolino said Kavanaugh hadthrown ice on him and Kavanaugh’s friend Chris Dudley had thrown a glass that hit him in the ear.
Dudley denied the allegations, according to the police report, “and Mr. Kavanaugh didn’t (want) to say if he threw the ice or not. “
A newly obtained, unredacted version of the report states Dudley “was transported to Union Ave detention facility by prisoner conveyance…” and a large “A” on the report indicates Dudley was arrested, according to New Haven’s police chief Anthony Campbell. It’s not known whether Dudley was ever charged with a crime.
There is also an “O,” indicating “other,” next to Kavanaugh’s name in the report. The designation signifies anyone who was interviewed by police who may have witnessed the incident or anyone who had been spoken to about the incident, according to Dave Hartman, a spokesman for the New Haven Police Department.
“This is the report of a simple assault. Mr. Kavanaugh is not the subject of this simple assault. He was not the person arrested,” Hartman said. “The arrest was made after the victim identified someone else as throwing a glass that hit him in the ear.”
Dudley’s attorney, Mark Sherman, said Tuesday he believes the report is mistaken and meant to indicate his client was “detained” rather than “arrested.”
“To be clear, after investigation, Chris Dudley was never arrested by Yale or New Haven Police, was never charged with a crime, and never set foot in court,” Sherman told CNN.
The White House sent out a statement from Dudley, a former NBA player, supporting Kavanaugh Monday, where he said he never saw the Supreme Court nominee blackout while at Yale.
“I will say it again, we drank in college. I was with Brett frequently in college, whether it be in the gym, in class or socializing. I never ever saw Brett blackout. Not one time,” Dudley said. “And in all the years I have known him, I have never seen him to be disrespectful or inappropriate with women. I would also like to point out that going out never came before working hard and maintaining our focus on our goals.”
His statement came amid an FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh, in which Kavanaugh has been accused of drinking in excess. Kavanaugh has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.
Campbell said Monday that the FBI had not reached out to his department regarding the 1985 report, nor has it reached out before that in any previous backgrounding effort for Kavanaugh.
Hartman said Tuesday that there is no supplemental report on the alleged 1985 incident, adding that it occurred at “a local bar that no longer exists, and unfortunately everyone who was involved from the police end has retired decades ago.”
“Without making it sound less important, this is a college town — things haven’t changed in that we deal with these types of incidents on a daily basis,” Hartman said. “This was a dispute between two people at a bar and an assault. But it certainly lends to a simple assault rather than an aggravated assault. That’s pretty much where we are and I don’t see this going any further with the New Haven Police Department.”
The New Haven Superior Court confirmed it has no records related to this incident and said the records would have been destroyed per its records “destruction schedule.”
