Charges dropped against actor Cuba Gooding Jr.

The Associated Press, Friday, August 3, 2012, 2:43pm (PDT)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Misdemeanor battery charges related to a bar dust-up have been dropped against Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr.

City spokesman Ryan Berni says an arraignment hearing was held Friday but there was no one to press the complaint.

As a result, he says, the city moved to drop the charges. The Times-Picayune reports ( http://bit.ly/QA32Ji) the 44-year-old Gooding did not appear at the brief hearing before Judge Sean Early.

The hearing came two days after an Old Absinthe House employee said she was dropping charges against him. The bartender had claimed Gooding shoved her a couple times.

The accusation was made after Gooding allegedly became upset when patrons asked him to pose for photos about 3 a.m. Tuesday at the French Quarter bar. The bartender told investigators that Gooding pushed her after she asked him to calm down.