A 2011 police report out of Nashville is turning political in Bucks County. What you need to know

An 11-year-old police report charging a Republican candidate running for state Senate in Bucks County with public intoxication has spurred Democrats to question whether he is fit to hold office.

While the charge was quickly dismissed, and political newcomer Matt McCullough said he takes full responsibility for being drunk and not following police orders, it's a line in the police report that has Bucks County Democrats' attention.

Over a dozen women with the Bucks County Democratic Committee have called on McCullough to apologize for allegedly groping an employee at a Nashville strip club in 2011, a claim he has outright denied. While the claim is part of the narrative in the report, McCullough was never charged with touching or assaulting the employee.

Here's what we know, and don't know, as the race for the district heats up with less than two months before voters head to the polls and McCullough looks to unseat state Sen. Steve Santarsiero in the 10th District.

The 2011 police report from Nashville

McCullough, of Newtown Township, was arrested outside of the Brass Stables Jockey Club in Nashville after police responded to a call for a “disorderly person” who allegedly “grabbed and squeezed an employee’s breast,” a copy of the police report obtained by this news organization states.

Police removed McCullough, then 37 and living in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, from the strip club after responding to the 4 a.m. call and attempted to get him into a cab. The report says McCullough refused to leave and argued with police until they took him into custody “for his own safety as well as the safety of others.”

McCullough was charged with public intoxication and the police report does not indicate any further investigation was made into the groping claim from the initial call, and no charges on that allegation were filed.

The public intoxication charge was eventually dismissed.

McCullough denies any wrongdoing

McCullough told Patch in another story earlier this week that he “got scooped up in” an altercation at the bar and confirmed to this news organization that he told LevittownNow that he took “full responsibility” for his disorderly conduct. McCullough, however, denies ever touching an employee inappropriately.

McCullough, when contacted Friday, called the Democrats' Friday press conference a “political hit piece” and said, “had I done something like that I would not have decided to run for office.”

“I 100% did not put my hands on anyone so I have nothing to apologize for. … An allegation is not a fact. I was not charged with (sexual harassment or assault) and I would not do that,” McCullough added.

He said he would have no further comment on the incident.

Accusations and a demand of an apology

Bucks County Commissioner Vice Chairwoman Diane Ellis-Marseglia, joined by 14 other women from the county Democrats, said at a news conference Friday morning that she believed the details in the police report and that McCullough should apologize.

“This is important, even 11 years later, because although he has taken some responsibility for the drinking incident, he has not taken responsibility for touching that woman. … Any allegations of sexual harassment have to be taken seriously and it’s too important of an issue for us to be silent,” Ellis-Marseglia said.

In a written statement, former state Rep. Helen Tai, of Solebury, added that accusations of sexual assault by “women were often dismissed out of hand” at the time of the incident.

“That was even more likely true for workers at bars like Brass Stables and it was certainly true in Harrisburg, where incidents were often swept under the rug,” Tai said.

The two said the police report was an mark against McCullough at a time when issues like reproductive rights are on the ballot following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively kicked laws on abortion access back to state legislatures in June.

Did police investigate the groping claim?

A spokeswoman for the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department said Friday that it is unlikely any follow-up investigation on the groping allegation would have been conducted without a formal complaint. Without it, authorities would have concluded any investigation.

Nashville police said Friday no further information would be available.

The police report, which includes six sentences describing the incident, makes no mention on an investigation. It says McCullough was only taken into custody when he repeatedly refused to leave the scene in a cab. If he would have, there would likely have been no arrest.

A docket search of the Pennsylvania Court system did not show any other criminal charges against McCullough since the altercation in Tennessee.

Matt McCullough, the candidate

McCullough described himself as a “pro-life” candidate but said that had he been in office earlier this year, he would have voted against Senate Bill 106, which passed the state Legislature earlier this year proposing several constitutional amendments.

The bill includes a voter referendum that says Pennsylvania’s constitution “does not grant the right to taxpayer-funded abortion or any other right related to abortion.”

Santarsiero’s campaign website says he voted against SB 106 and that he would “fight against any attempt to limit abortion rights in Pennsylvania now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned.”

McCullough added that, while he does want to see “few abortions in the state,” he favored health and education programs over changing the state’s current laws.

Santarsiero, who is also the chair of the county’s Democratic committee, was not at Friday’s news conference at the law offices of Curtin and Heefner LLP, where he was a partner until 2019.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County Democrats demand apology from GOP candidate state race