Alien Ant Farm frontman Dryden Mitchell has been charged with battery after pulling a male fan’s hand into his crotch during a live show.
As The Daily Mail reports, the incident occurred when the US rock band were performing at the Broward Center For The Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on October 29, 2022.
The moment was captured in a fan-shot video and subsequently posted on YouTube. In the footage, the audience member in question can be seen raising his hand towards Mitchell’s who directs it into his crotch. The former then quickly pulls away.
It’s reported that the unidentified fan, a man from Miami, filed a report at the Fort Lauderdale Police Department two weeks later, claiming that the frontman had assaulted him.
Last Friday (December 30) the Broward State Attorney’s Office filed a first-degree misdemeanour charge against Mitchell, which is punishable by up to one year in jail if convicted.
Police wrote: “[The fan] said he had his fist in the air and was trying to get a picture with Mitchell.
“[He] advised that Mitchell grabbed his fist while it was in the air and pulled the fist into his private area (genital area) against his pants. [He] stated he immediately pulled his hand away at that point.”
The concert-goer said that he did not want to talk about the incident until a later date on the advice of his civil lawyers. “I’ll be more than happy to speak later. I do want the story out there because what happened was not right,” he told the Daily Mail.
He decided to report the crime at a later date as it “was not sitting well with him”, according to police.
The newspaper said that it had been unsuccessful in its attempt at contacting Mitchell via his booking agency and phone.
In 2016, Alien Ant Farm guitarist Terry Corso pleaded guilty to assaulting a fan at a live show. The audience member had thrown liquid at the musician, who assumed it was urine.
“He felt angry at that so he confronted the fan and ended up hitting him once,” said Corso’s solicitor Stephen Ferns.
“He regrets his actions and says he never should have jumped off the stage.”
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