Comedian says he’d return to testify in Orleans assault case

NEW ORLEANS — Comedian Andy Dick told a New Orleans news outlet Wednesday that he’s willing to return to the city and testify against a man accused of knocking him unconscious last year.

Dick spoke to The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate by telephone a day after the district attorney’s office in New Orleans said it was dropping the case.

A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said that Dick had not been co-operative and had not kept in touch with prosecutors.

Dick did not deny losing touch with prosecutors, but he said it was because of his poor mental and physical state since the encounter with the suspect, David Hale.

The comedian said he is afraid of Hale, “But I want him held accountable.”

Video recorded outside a French Quarter night club in August showed the comedian being knocked unconscious.

A district attorney spokesman, Ken Daley, said Tuesday that the case could be revived if Dick reestablishes contact with the district attorney’s office.

Hale’s attorneys, Michael Kennedy and Miles Swanson, said Tuesday that the district attorney’s office made the right call to not prosecute.

“If anything further comes from this matter, we don’t expect any different outcome, and we remain committed to our client’s vindication,” Kennedy told the news outlet Wednesday.

Hale, 47, had told police he struck Dick, 54, after the comedian grabbed his genitals. Dick denied that in Wednesday’s interview, saying that after he finished his set in the club, Hale came up and requested a picture with him. Dick said he rolled his eyes when Hale lifted his shirt and asked the comedian to place his hand on Hale’s bare stomach — but Dick did it to please someone he thought was a fan.

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An earlier version of this story was corrected to note efforts made by The Associated Press to reach Andy Dick for comment.

The Associated Press