musicNEWS:
Rush Guitarist Arrested for Drunken, Violent New Year’s Eve
01-03-04
Keavin
.
Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson (real name Alex
Zivojinovich) was arrested on New Year’s Eve after a drunken row with police
at the posh Ritz-Carlton hotel in Naples, Florida.
The trouble started after Lifeson’s 33-year-old
son refused to leave the hotel’s stage during a New Year’s Eve celebration.
Sheriff’s deputies reportedly had to use a stun gun on the 50-year-old
rock veteran.
Lifeson’s son, Justin, said he jumped on
stage to sing with the hotel house band.
"I was singing Happy New Year's, that's
all I was doing, singing to the whole crowd. That's all I said, 'Happy
New Year,'" Justin Zivojinovich said. "Everyone was enjoying themselves.
That's when someone apparently started yelling for one of the security
guards. There was no violence on our part."
The police report says that the trouble
started after Justin refused to leave the stage and a row resulted between
deputies and Alex Lifeson, who was reportedly intoxicated and became violent
with police.
Justin accuses police of breaking his father’s
nose during the shuffle.
Alex Lifeson reportedly spat blood into
a deputy’s face and pushed a female deputy down a stairwell during the
scuffle.
Justin disputes this claim, saying that
the deputy fell down the stairs as she pushed his father down the stairwell.
Alex Lifeson, as well as his son Justin,
were both arrested by police along with Justin’s wife Michelle Zivojinovich.
Lifeson was charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer,
resisting an officer with violence, and disorderly intoxication
Lifeson was released from Collier County
jail Friday afternoon and has yet to publicly comment on the incident.
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