Rock Star and Guards Cited Over Scuffle

Vincent Neil, former lead singer for the rock band Motley Crue, and four companions got into a scuffle with security guards at the Universal Amphitheatre on Sunday night, which ended with guards and rockers making citizen’s arrests of each other.

Neil, 31, his wife Sharise Neil, 27, Robert Montejano, 23, and two other men were apparently trying to leave the Bryan Adams concert early via a backstage exit, according to Sheriff’s Deputy Britta Tubbs.

They were stopped at about 10:30 p.m. by three security guards from Blackthorn Event Management Security, which works for Universal.

“The officers questioned their presence in the backstage area,” Tubbs said. “Words were exchanged and a fight ensued, during which six to eight additional security officers responded to the scene.”

The fight lasted about five or six minutes, and was over before sheriff’s deputies arrived.

Neil, his wife, Montejano and one security guard received medical treatment at the scene for minor cuts and bruises, she said.

Five sheriff’s deputies from the West Hollywood station detained all those involved, who gave conflicting versions of what happened, Tubbs said.

Neil and Montejano insisted on placing three of the security guards under citizen’s arrest for battery, and then the guards turned around and placed Neil and Montejano under citizen’s arrest for the same thing, Tubbs said.

All parties were cited and released by sheriff’s deputies, she said, and the matter has been referred to the district attorney’s office. The case is scheduled to be heard in Beverly Hills Municipal Court on Nov. 2, Tubbs said.

Deputies identified the three guards as Larry Jarrett, 51, Ronald Williams, 30, and Kerwin Lashley, 34.

A spokesman for the Blackthorn security firm referred all inquiries to the Universal Amphitheatre, which issued a one-sentence statement Monday: “We regret that an incident occurred at last night’s performance, and we understand that the matter is now being handled by law enforcement authorities.”

Neither Neil nor anyone at his recording label, Elektra Records, could be reached for comment.

Neil, whose full name is Vincent Neil Wharton, served 30 days in County Jail in 1986 after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving in connection with a December, 1984, auto accident. The accident claimed the life of Neil’s passenger, musician Nicholas Dingley, 24. Dingley, who used the stage name Razzle, was a drummer for the now-defunct band Hanoi Rocks.

Two other people in another car were seriously injured. Neil was ordered to pay $2.6 million in restitution to Dingley’s estate and to the two injured victims, and to perform 200 hours of community service.