A 71-year-old Republican and Greenwich, Connecticut Town Meeting representative has been arrested for allegedly grabbing and pinching a 57-year-old woman below the belt. Gross.
Christopher von Keyserling, 71, of 402 Post Road E., was arrested in Greenwich Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon and charged with fourth-degree sexual assault, police said. He posted $2,500 bond and was released to appear in court on Jan. 25.
The incident began at about noon Dec. 8 when the 57-year-old woman encountered von Keyserling in the hallway of an unnamed town facility, the warrant said.
According to the complaint, the two got into a conversation about politics in which things got heated.
He allegedly replied: "I love this new world, I no longer have to be politically correct," according to the warrant.
She told him that if he was "proud of that I can't help you," after which he called her a lazy, bloodsucking union employee, the warrant said.
She uttered "(expletive deleted) you" and walked into her office, the warrant said. She said he followed her into the office and said he wanted to talk with her co-worker, the warrant said.
After this, the complaint alleges that when the coworker couldn’t speak with Keyserling, the two left the office, at which point Keyserling either pinched her in her groin area or on her rear end. According to Keyserling’s lawyer, this is all false.
“In almost 30 years of practicing law in this town, I would say Mr. von Keyserling is the one person I would never suspect of having any inappropriate sexual predilections,” Russell said, noting his client is in his 70s.
“There was a playful gesture, in front of witnesses. It was too trivial to be considered anything of significance. To call it a sexual assault is not based in reality,” the lawyer said.
So far, the video evidence does not support the last statement.
Police reviewed videotape of the office. According to the affidavit, it was unclear where von Keyserling’s hand was when the woman walked past him.
The sequence of events documented on the video was consistent with the woman’s account, according to court papers, and she was seen pointing a finger at von Keyserling in a disapproving, agitated manner on the video.
According to the woman’s report, that “pointing finger” was when she told him she would punch him if he every tried to violate her again.