Dustin Hice Drops Assault Case Against CNN Anchor Don Lemon
After nearly three years of claiming that Don Lemon assaulted him, Dustin Hice has dropped his case against the CNN anchor, claiming to have misremembered the night's events.
This news comes just weeks before the civil assault jury trial was to begin, and shortly after a federal judge ordered Hice to pay Lemon $77,000 in attorneys fees for failing to comply with court rules.The filing this evening in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York, brings the chapter to a close.The case began in 2019 when Hice filed a lawsuit against Lemon, claiming that the journalist had assaulted him inside a popular Hamptons bar in July of the previous year.As The Advocate previously reported, Dustin Hice claimed in his lawsuit that after leaving his bartending job during the summer of 2018, he recognized the well-known journalist at a bar in the Hamptons and offered to buy him a drink.
According to the lawsuit, Lemon declined the offer, and both went their separate ways. Later in the night, Hice said, Lemon approached him, put his hands down his pants, fondled himself, and put his fingers under Hice's nose, asking Hice whether he liked "pussy or dick." Hice claimed that the interaction left him humiliated, saddled with mental health problems, and unable to return to his summer job as a bartender on Long Island.However, Hice's case began to fall apart when several witnesses for his side recanted their stories and shed light on the fact that Hice offered to pay one for favorable testimony.
In addition, two witnesses said they did not see the assault or any signs of distress from Hice that night or any subsequent time.
