Rick Allen, the famous drummer for rock band Def Leppard, broke his silence Monday on a brutal beating that left him with a head injury.
The talented drummer was seriously injured March 12 when he was attacked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. On Monday’s episode of “Good Morning America,” he spoke for the first time about the horrifying incident and how deeply it affected him.
“I heard a couple of steps and then I just saw this dark sort of flash, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground,” Allen recalled. “I landed on my backside and then continued on, hit my head on the pavement.”
.@rickallenlive, the iconic drummer of #DefLeppard, is opening up about his recovery journey only months after he was assaulted after a show in Fort Lauderdale in March. @lipoftv reports.https://t.co/yy2WyRxWfj pic.twitter.com/4dpsgak8ba
— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 22, 2023
Allen explained he was shoved to the ground by a tourist while smoking outside of the Four Seasons Hotel, where he was staying. Fort Lauderdale Police have charged 19-year-old Max Hartley for the attack.
Hartley allegedly ran from behind a pole at “full speed,” toward the rocker, and then struck him.
“I reach my hand up into the, into the air, as I thought I was going to get attacked again, and I just said, ‘”I am no threat to you,'” Allen recounted on “Good Morning America.”
Allen believes it was a random attack, and doesn’t think he was intentionally targeted due to his fame.
“I don’t think he knew who I was, but he must’ve seen that I wasn’t a threat because, you know, I’ve only got one arm,” he said.
Allen’s left arm was amputated in Jan. 1985 after a car accident.
Def Leppard on the Bramall Lane stage. 🎶 pic.twitter.com/jbp1YYw7DE
— Sheffield United Fan Services (@SUFCServices) May 22, 2023
“I just started just thanking, um , yah just thanking a higher power for the fact that I’m still here,” Allen said on “Good Morning America.”
The drummer kicked off the European leg of his tour with Def Leppard on Monday night in Sheffield, England, roughly two months after the attack.
“I know that I’m not gonna be playing music in a band forever, but while I am, I plan on making as many people happy as I possibly can,” he said. “This is my opportunity. If only we could view other things in that way. We’re only here for a limited time.” (RELATED: REPORT: Wild Video Seems To Show Reality TV Stars Being Attacked Outside Florida Bar)
Hartley was charged with two counts of battery, four counts of criminal mischief and abusing an elderly or disabled adult, according to “Good Morning America.” He has pleaded not guilty.