Fans Protest Rush Guitarist's Arrest

01/13/2004 7:49 AM, AP
The Associated Press

Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter is defending his department against a flood of e-mail from fans of rock band Rush following the New Year's Eve arrest of its lead guitarist.

Deputies said they had to use a stun gun on 50-year-old Alex Zivojinovich — known on stage as Alex Lifeson — for what they described as drunken, violent behavior at the Naples Ritz-Carlton hotel.

Police said Zivojinovich, of Naples, faces charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence and disorderly intoxication.

He tried to intervene when deputies attempted to remove his 33-year-old son, Justin Zivojinovich, who had jumped onstage during the middle of a performance by musician Freddy Cole, police said.

Also arrested were Justin Zivojinovich and his 30-year-old wife, Michelle Zivojinovich.

"We're getting a lot of Rush fans being completely foul (in the messages)," said sheriff's spokeswoman Tina Osceola.

Hunter said he's personally reviewing reports of the incident and talking to deputies who were on the scene.

"Some of Alex Zivojinovich's 'fans' have spoken out on his behalf, and in doing so, have attacked this agency, the individual deputies, and the Ritz-Carlton hotel, as well as the community in which we live and serve," Hunter said in the prepared statement posted on the agency's Web page. "None of the fans appear to have been present as witnesses."

Zivojinovich, who is free on $14,500 bond, left the Collier County jail on Jan. 2 with dried blood spattered over the front of his white shirt and a swollen nose that he said was broken.

Freddy Cole, the 71-year-old younger brother of the late Nat King Cole , was playing the $650-a-couple, black-tie event when a man in a white suit jumped onto the stage and grabbed the microphone.