A police report confirms that a friend of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was arrested in 1985 while they were students at Yale, following a contentious incident at a local bar where Kavanaugh was blamed for throwing ice on another man.
According to an unredacted police report on the incident obtained by CNN, Kavanaugh’s friend Chris Dudley “was transported to Union Ave detention facility by prisoner conveyance” after he struck a man on the ear with a glass. The report also lists an “A” to note that Dudley was arrested, but it’s unclear if Dudley was ever charged.
The New York Times first reported on Monday that Kavanaugh threw ice on a man “for an unknown reason” during the bar fight. When questioned by police later, Kavanaugh did not want “to say if he threw the ice or not.” The Times had reported on only a redacted copy of the police report, which did not mention any arrests.
The incident and arrest was first hinted at in a statement from Charles “Chad” Ludington, a classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Yale who drank with him regularly.
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“On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man’s face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail,” Ludington said in a statement Sunday.
Kavanaugh’s drinking habits have come under scrutiny as he faces multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Dudley has come to the defense of Kavanaugh, and claimed he never saw Kavanaugh “black out” in a statement issued from the White House.
“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 black out. 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.”
[Related: Kavanaugh became ‘aggressive,’ ‘belligerent’ when drinking, says Yale freshman roommate]
Kavanaugh told the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that he never drank to the point where he blacked out, but did confess to enjoying beer.
The FBI is conducting a supplemental background investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct, and the Senate is waiting to vote to confirm him until the FBI’s investigation concludes.
