Hanover Police reported two incidents on Tuesday involving Robert Haines, a Manchester resident running for the U.S. presidency, saying that he had "crossed the acceptable boundaries between people" while campaigning in downtown Hanover. Police involvement followed complaints by two female Dartmouth students about their interactions with Haines.
The first incident occurred on Monday, when a Dartmouth student passed by Haines on the corner of Wheelock and Main St., Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone said. The student was not familiar with Haines, so she reportedly asked Haines who he was and Haines introduced himself, extending his hand for her to shake. Instead of shaking her hand, Haines raised it to his mouth and, according to the student, licked it.
When police asked Haines whether he had licked her hand, he allegedly said, "Like any southern gentleman I kissed her hand, but I claim the fifth on that."
As Haines raised the student's hand to his mouth, some of his papers apparently fell down, and as the student helped him pick them up he supposedly made some derogatory comments about the way she was dressed.
"The student reported the incident to make sure that no other female students would be subjected to what she had been subjected to," Giaccone said.
The student told police that she wished to remain anonymous.
When police officers went to question Haines about the incident on Tuesday afternoon, they were approached by another female student who also complained about Haines. That student, who also wished to remain anonymous, said that she and her teammates had gone to the restaurant Murphy's on the Green at around 3 a.m. and saw Haines on the street corner. As the student went into the bar, she reportedly saw Haines attempting to get into her car. Later that morning, he allegedly "peered out of the shadows at her," Giaccone said, adding that Haines also purportedly approached her.
"His conduct with both of these girls comes close to the threshold of a criminal complaint," Giaccone said.
That line would be crossed, he added, if "any of the touching or physical contact was done clearly against the person's will."
"The best medicine here is to avoid interaction with this man," he said.
Dartmouth has issued a trespass letter against Haines, according to Giaccone.
"He knows he cannot go on Dartmouth property," the police chief said.
When the police questioned Haines about these incidents, he at first said that all of his remarks were justified, but when the police started questioning him about the specific remarks the students had reported, Haines again invoked his fifth amendment rights, Giaccone explained.
Haines's speech would have to be "derogatory to the point of being disorderly" for police to take any action.
The police have received many other complaints about Haines, but nothing of this nature before, Giaccone said. Haines has campaigned in Hanover in the past.
"Every time he comes here we get all sorts of complaints," Giaccone said, adding that the complaints ranged from his "obnoxious manner of addressing people" to complaints about him disrupting traffic.
The Hanover Inn recently complained about Haines for accosting customers leaving the inn and speaking to people in the rocking chairs outside the inn doors, Giaccone said.
In Tuesday's issue of The Dartmouth, Haines described himself as a "conservative independent" candidate who has run for president in 1992, 1996 and 2004.
Giaccone advised students to contact the police if they wish to report a conflict with Haines, and if the complaint is very serious, file a criminal complaint.
Attempts to reach Haines were unsuccessful as of press time.
