Alien Ant Farm vocalist Dryden Mitchell was charged with battery after pulling a fan’s hand over his crotch during a live performance.
According to The Daily Mail, the incident occurred on October 29, 2022, when the American rock band performed at the Broward Center For The Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
This moment was captured on a fan video and subsequently posted on YouTube. The footage shows how the viewer in question raises his hand to Mitchell, who directs it into his crotch. Then the ex quickly pulls away.
It is reported that two weeks later, an unknown fan, a man from Miami, filed a report with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, claiming that the frontman attacked him.
Last Friday (December 30), the Broward State Prosecutor’s Office filed a first-degree misdemeanor charge against Mitchell, which is punishable by up to one year in prison if found guilty.
The police wrote: “[The fan] said he raised his fist in the air and tried to take a picture with Mitchell.
“[He] reported that Mitchell grabbed his fist while he was in the air and pressed it against his trousers in the intimate area (genital area). [He] stated that he immediately withdrew his hand.”
The concert lover said he did not want to talk about the incident until a later date on the advice of his civil lawyers. “I will be more than happy to perform later. I want this story to be published because what happened was wrong,” he told the Daily Mail.
According to the police, he decided to report the crime later, as it “did not suit him.”
The newspaper reported that an attempt to contact Mitchell through his booking agency and phone was unsuccessful.
In 2016, Alien Ant Farm guitarist Terry Corso pleaded guilty to assaulting a fan during a live performance. The spectator splashed liquid at the musician, which suggested that it was urine.
“He got angry about it, so he confronted the fan and ended up hitting him once,” Corso’s lawyer Stephen Ferns said.
“He regrets his actions and says he shouldn’t have jumped off the stage.”
