According to the criminal complaint, Mankato Department of Public Safety Police Sergeant Adam Gray was talking with a driver of a "drunk bus" in the city's entertainment district when he "felt two fingertips that were obvious to him as wet with saliva being pushed into his right and left ear canals, which caused pressure and discomfort in his ear canals."

The officer turned and saw a man later identified as Swearingen tell his friends, "I just gave the cop a wet Willie."