Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill was “dirty dancing” with a lobbyist on the night he was accused of drunkenly groping four women at a bar, a witness claims.
Dawna Smith, a legislative assistant for a Republican state lawmaker, testified Tuesday during the disciplinary hearing for Republican Curtis Hill that she intentionally avoided the attorney general because of his behavior, the Indianapolis Star reports.
“When females walked by, [Hill] would use his body to rub up against them as they passed by him,” Smith said.
Hill, who appeared to be intoxicated at the time, rubbed up to women anywhere from three to five times, Smith said.
“He wasn’t very stable, physically,” she told a former state Supreme Court justice overseeing the hearing, which is expected to continue until Friday.
Smith also saw Hill “dirty dancing” with a lobbyist and rubbing the back of state Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, who, along with a trio of female legislative staffers, has accused the attorney general of inappropriately touching their backs or buttocks.
“He was just slowly rubbing her back,” Smith said. “And her back was bare.”
Another witness who testified Tuesday about the allegations during a party in March 2018 at AJ’s Lounge in Indianapolis to celebrate the end of the legislative session said he spotted Hill getting “pretty friendly” as the night went on.
“He would not be afraid to speak to people and put his arm around some folks,” Adam Jones of the Indiana Senate Democratic Caucus testified.
Hill and Reardon “had words” at the party after the attorney general put his arm on her and touched her exposed back, Jones said.
“I saw his hand go onto the skin of her back, because of the dress she was wearing, and it went down to the top of her [buttocks],” Jones testified. “[Hill] had a reaction but I don’t think he was abashed.”
Hill, 58, is expected to testify later this week. He has rejected calls from Indiana’s Republican governor to resign.
The former Indiana Supreme Court justice overseeing Hill’s disciplinary hearing will make a recommendation to the state’s high court, which could dismiss the complaint or call for Hill to be disbarred, which would force him to vacate his position, according to the newspaper.
With Post wires