Former CDC chief Tom Frieden arrested in New York, accused of groping
Law enforcement officials said he was accused of touching a woman’s buttocks without permission last year.
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) In this July 13, 2016 file photo, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The New York Police Department says Frieden was arrested on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 in Brooklyn. Frieden surrendered to face charges that he grabbed the buttocks of a woman he knew in his home last October. It says she reported it in July. He is charged with forcible touching, sex abuse and harassment.
Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was arrested Friday in New York after he was accused of touching a woman's buttocks without permission, law enforcement officials said.
Frieden turned himself in to authorities on Friday in Brooklyn, police said.
According to the New York Police Department, the alleged groping took place on Oct. 20, 2017, and then was reported to authorities in July. Police said the incident took place in a residential part of Brooklyn.
"He was arrested for forcible touching, for sexual abuse and harassment, for touching her buttocks without permission," a New York police spokeswoman said.
He is expected to be arraigned on Friday afternoon. It was not immediately clear whether Frieden had an attorney.
Frieden, who is also a former New York City health commissioner, led the CDC for seven years during the Obama administration, and he served as a high-profile figure speaking to the public during the Ebola epidemic. He led the CDC longer than any director since the 1970s and oversaw it during major disease outbreaks including the Zika epidemic and the 2009 global H1N1 swine flu pandemic.
Last year, Frieden said he was starting a new initiative to tackle cardiovascular disease and epidemics.
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