Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen says he heard footsteps and saw a “dark … flash” at the moment he was randomly assaulted outside his hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, suffering a serious head injury.
Allen also told “Good Morning America” on Monday that the 1984 car accident that took one of his arms prepared him for the recovery process he’s going through now. Allen was outside the Four Seasons in mid-March smoking a cigarette after a show when he was attacked by 19-year-old Max Edward Hartley of Ohio, according to police.
“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 told “GMA” on Monday, the first time he’s spoken publicly since. “I landed on my backside, and then continued on, hit my head on the pavement. … I reach my hand up into the air because I thought I was going to get attacked again. And I just said, ‘I am no threat to you.’ I don’t think he knew who I was, but he must’ve seen I wasn’t a threat because I’ve only got one arm!”
Hartley was arrested and has pleaded not guilty.
Watch the segment below:
