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Two months after admitting to “regrettable conduct” in a public apology to the victim, former state Rep. Perry Hooper Jr. is now suing the City of Montgomery and the Montgomery Police Department claiming that his arrest for felony sexual assault was improper and part of an elaborate scheme orchestrated by his “political enemies.”
In the lawsuit, which names the city, MPD and MPD Chief Daryl Albert, Hooper claims that the alleged victim never actually filed a criminal complaint against him, that a video of the incident that MPD is refusing to release shows no sexual misconduct on his part and that the entire incident “was a planned and orchestrated set up by Hooper’s political enemies” because of his support of Donald Trump.
Hooper was arrested by MPD and the U.S. Marshals in October following a complaint filed by a hostess at a downtown Montgomery restaurant. That complaint, which has been widely distributed, includes the victim’s statement that Hooper came up behind her, grabbed her breasts, began thrusting his pelvis into her and then started to kiss her neck before she could break away.
A Montgomery County grand jury later indicted Hooper on the felony sexual assault charge after viewing the evidence, including the video, according to a source familiar with the grand jury process in this case.
The charges were later dropped after the victim told the Montgomery District Attorney’s Office that she didn’t wish to pursue it. She asked for, and received, a public apology from Hooper. In that apology, Hooper admitted to behaving unacceptably and said, “I was wrong and I take full responsibility for my actions.”
He also called the victim “an exemplary person.”
In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Hooper is no longer taking responsibility — claiming that the incident was nothing more than a kiss on the cheek — and is claiming now that the victim “had a troubled past.”
