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Another Woman Accuses George H.W. Bush Of Groping Her While Posing For A Photo

Donna Carson
/
Reuters
Former President George H.W. Bush smiles as he listens to then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Houston in March 2012.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Bush 41 is accused of groping again; Jerry Jones’ is in hot water; Dallas considers parking meters to fight panhandling; and more.

Another woman has come forward accusing former President George H.W. Bush of groping her while posing for a photo.

The alleged incident happened in 2003 when Roslyn Corrigan was 16. She told Time magazine that Bush grabbed her buttocks as she posed for a photo with him at a gathering of CIA officers in The Woodlands.

"My initial action was absolute horror. I was really, really confused," she told the magazine. "The first thing I did was look at my mom and, while he was still standing there, I didn't say anything. What does a teenager say to the ex-president of the United States? Like, 'Hey dude, you shouldn't have touched me like that?'"

Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement Monday that Bush regrets any offensive actions.

"George Bush simply does not have it in his heart to knowingly cause anyone distress, and he again apologizes to anyone he offended during a photo op," he said.

Corrigan is at least the fifth woman to say Bush groped her. Time reports a sixth woman, a retired journalist, said in a Facebook post that Bush touched her from behind during a photo opp at an event in Pennsylvania in 2004.

The stories surfaced after actress Heather Lind last month said Bush, now 93, touched her from behind and told an inappropriate joke when they were posing for a 2014 photo.  

McGrath at the time explained that Bush has been in a wheelchair for about five years "so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures."

"To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke — and on occasion, he has patted women's rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner," McGrath said.

At the time of Corrigan’s account, Bush was 79 and not using a wheelchair.

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The High Five is KERA’s daily roundup of stories from Dallas-Fort Worth and across the state. Explore our archives here. And sign up for our weekly email for the North Texas news you need to know.