DEF LEPPARD’s drummer Rick Allen was apprently assaulted while outside the hotel he was staying at in Fort Lauderdale
TMZ reports that the 59-year-old DEF LEPPARD drummer was assaulted by a teenager in outside the Four Seasons hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Monday (March 13).
Allen was in Florida to perform a co-headlining show with MÖTLEY CRÜE at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel And Casino over the weekend and had gone outside the hotel to smoke a cigarette when he was then attacked by a 19-year-old from Ohio.
Police report that the suspect ran toward Allen at full speed, hitting him and knocking him backward and slamming his head on the ground.
The police report goes on to state that a woman ran out of the hotel to try to help Allen, at which point the suspect also knocked her to the ground.
The report states: “While she is on the ground, the defendant continues to batter her by striking her. [She] attempts to escape by running into the hotel. The defendant then grabs [her] by her hair and drags her out of the lobby and back onto the sidewalk before fleeing the area.”
The suspect fled to another hotel nearby, but was ultimately arrested after causing damage to a number of cars in a parking garage.
The 19-year-old suspect was arrested and taken to Broward County Jail on Tuesday after being charged with two counts of battery, four counts of criminal mischief, and abusing an elderly or disabled adult.
The suspect declined to comment when approached by Miami’s 7 News WSVN, who inquired ‘Are you a DEF LEPPARD fan?”
Allen gave a sworn statement to police and informed them that he wanted the suspect to be prosecuted.
Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car accident back in 1984, however remains the pounding backbone for DEF LEPPARD despite the loss of his limb.
