Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen felt blindsided when he was allegedly attacked at a Florida hotel in March, he said in his first interview since the incident.
Allen’s head struck the pavement after he was knocked to the ground at the Four Seasons hotel in Fort Lauderdale, he told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview that aired Monday.
“I thought I was going to get attacked again,” Allen recalled. “I just said, ‘I am no threat to you.’ I don’t think he knew who I was, but he must have seen that I wasn’t a threat because I’ve only got one arm.”
Allen, 59, lost his left arm after a 1984 car crash. He said that experience “absolutely” equipped him to deal with the March 13 encounter.
“I immediately just went to that place of just feeling grateful for the fact that I have an amazing wife and an incredible family and I just started thanking a higher power for the fact that I’m still here,” Allen said.
The suspect, 19-year-old Max Hartley, pleaded not guilty to two battery counts, as well as four counts of criminal mischief.
Allen, who returned to drumming in 1986, previously addressed the situation in an Instagram post.
My wife Lauren was thankfully not with me at the time of the incident,” Allen wrote in March. “We are together now, and working on recovering in a safe space. We are focusing on healing for everyone involved.”
Def Leppard debuted in England in 1976 and is known for rock anthems such as “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Love Bites.”