FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Scripps News West Palm) — Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen was injured in a seemingly unprovoked attack last Monday near the valet section of the Four Seasons hotel in Fort Lauderdale.
Max Hartley, 19, of Avon, Ohio, was arrested on a charge of abuse to an elderly or disabled adult, according to a Fort Lauderdale police report.
According to the report, the victim was smoking a cigarette outside the hotel when Hartley, who was hiding behind a pole, charged at him, knocking him to the ground and injuring his head.
Although the victim’s identity was redacted in the report, it states the victim “lost his left arm in a traffic accident in 1984.”
Allen, whose left arm was amputated after a Christmas Eve crash in 1984, was in South Florida for a concert with Def Leppard and Motley Crue the night before at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood.
This booking photo provided by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department shows Max Edward Hartley. (Fort Lauderdale Police Department)
According to the report, Hartley also attacked a woman who tried to help the victim before getting away.
Police said Hartley was arrested a short distance away after he was seen damaging numerous vehicles in the parking garage of another hotel.
In one of several 911 calls released by police, a caller described the suspect as “very highly intoxicated.”
According to the report, the victim in the attack “expressed his desire for prosecution.”
This story was originally published on March 17, 2023, by WPTV in West Palm Beach, an E.W. Scripps Company.
