FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen is opening up about a brutal attack he suffered outside of the Four Seasons hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” the 59-year-old drummer recounted the March 13 assault.
According to police, Allen was smoking a cigarette in the valet section of the hotel when 19-year-old Max Hartley attacked him.
“I heard a couple of steps and then I just saw this dark sort of flash, and the next thing I knew was I was on the ground,” Allen said. “I landed on my, you know, my backside and then continued on, hit my head on the pavement.”
Allen and the band were in town to perform at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino at the time.
Stunned by the attack, Allen, who famously lost his arm in a car crash in the 1980s, said it all happened fast.
“I reach my hand up into the air, into the air as I thought I was going to get attacked again and I just said, ‘I am no threat to you,’” he said. “I don’t think he knew who I was. But he must have seen that I wasn’t a threat because, you know, I’ve only got one arm.”
Hartley pleaded not guilty to charges of battery, criminal mischief and abusing an elderly or disabled person.
