Taylor Swift’s bodyguard says he saw former DJ groping her behind
Pop star Taylor Swift’s former bodyguard told a U.S. jury on Friday that a former disc jockey the singer-songwriter accuses of groping her bottom had been drinking and that he saw the man’s hand go under her skirt during a photo shoot.
Former bodyguard Greg Dent was the latest witness in the U.S. District Court trial that is considering the 27-year-old performer’s allegation that former radio disc jockey David Mueller assaulted her at a meet-and-greet session with fans before a 2013 concert.
Mueller, 55, says the Grammy-winning performer of hits such as “Fearless,” “Bad Blood” and “I Knew You Were Trouble” falsely accused him and then got him fired from Denver station KYGO-FM.
Under questioning from the former disc jockey’s attorney, Gabriel McFarland, Dent told the court he witnessed the incident.
“I saw his hand under her skirt. … Her skirt went up. … She jumped,” Dent testified, adding that Swift then moved closer to Mueller’s girlfriend, who was standing on the other side of the singer for the photograph.
“I was definitely sure that he had been drinking,” Dent said of Mueller. “I don’t know what level. He wasn’t staggering or falling down.”
Dent, a former police officer who testified that he had also worked for the National Security Agency, said he took his cues from Swift and that she continued the meet-and-greet session, so he did not immediately intervene. When she finished meeting her fans, Dent said, Swift told her staff about the groping.
Swift, who is known for baring her soul and her grudges in her music, gave an unflinching account of the incident when she took the witness stand on Thursday.
In unvarnished language that occasionally drew titters in the courtroom, even from some jurors, Swift said she was subjected to a “very long” and “intentional” grope by Mueller as they posed for the photo with his girlfriend, and that he appeared to be drunk at the time.
“Your client grabbed my ass,” she told McFarland. “He stayed latched onto my bare ass cheek. I felt him grab onto my ass cheek under my skirt.”
Mueller initiated the litigation, claiming Swift fabricated the story and pressured KYGO to fire him from his $150,000-a-year job. Swift then countersued for assault and battery, asking for symbolic damages of $1.
The former disc jockey is seeking lost earnings and to clear his name, telling the court this week it was humiliating to be accused of “something so despicable.”
With the exception of Mueller, the trial’s first witness, almost every individual subsequently put on the stand by McFarland has delivered testimony supporting Swift’s case.
Swift’s testimony was so apparently devastating to Mueller that her lawyer, D. Douglas Baldridge, declined a chance to cross-examine his own client when McFarland was done questioning her. It remained to be seen whether Baldridge would call anyone else to the stand once McFarland rests his case.
Mueller, 55, testified on Tuesday that he may have made innocent contact with Swift but denied any inappropriate behavior. Asked if he grabbed her backside, he replied: “No, I did not.”
Swift’s account was backed by testimony from others including her photographer, Stephanie Simbeck, who on Thursday recalled seeing Mueller “put his hand on (Swift’s) butt.”
In emotional testimony on Wednesday, Swift’s mother, Andrea, pointed at Mueller from the witness stand, saying, “He sexually assaulted my daughter, right there, that guy.”
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