2006.06.27 - MTV News - Axl Rose Released from Jail After Bar Brawl

AXL ROSE RELEASED FROM JAIL AFTER BAR BRAWL, LEG-BITING INCIDENT

SINGER BIT SECURITY GUARD'S LEG, POLICE SPOKESPERSON SAYS.

GIL KAUFMAN
06/27/2006

Except for that scuffle with Tommy Hilfiger in New York last month, things were going so well. But trips to jail aren't uncommon on Guns N' Roses tours, and Axl Rose started a rap sheet on the band's latest incarnation when he was arrested by Swedish police early Tuesday (June 27).

According to a Swedish police spokesperson, Rose got into an altercation with a hotel security guard early Tuesday morning at an afterparty following Guns N' Roses' sold-out gig at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. Towe Hagg, a spokesperson for the Stockholm Police Department, told MTV News that Rose had been arrested and held in jail by prosecutors on suspicion of damaging property at the hotel, assaulting a security guard and threatening police.

Rose was released from jail late Tuesday after confessing to the charges and agreeing to pay a fine of $5,500, according to The Associated Press. Officials also ordered Rose to pay $1,300 in damages to the security guard whom he assaulted.

Hagg told MTV News that Rose remained in a holding cell much of the morning sobering up before officers could speak to him about the incident. One of the arresting officers told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that Rose was "aggressive and acting out" following his arrest and was handcuffed due to his outbursts.

"We had a great gig in Stockholm and I am not going to let this incident spoil that," Rose said in a statement. "My assistant Beta and I were talking in the lobby of the hotel when security started to give us a hard time. My only concern was to make sure she was OK."

Swedish media reports had the band partying at the prestigious Café Opera early into the morning following its show at the Globe. Rose reportedly joined the crew after 2 a.m. and was surrounded by a bevy of leather-clad blond women, as per the band's request in the local media prior to the show. A spokesperson for Café Opera would not comment to MTV News about the band's visit to the club or who attended the afterparty.

It was when the party shifted to the Berns Hotel, where the group was staying, that things reportedly got ugly. While a hotel spokesperson did not return calls for comment, hotel manager Joakim Olauson confirmed for Aftonbladet that there was an "incident" involving Rose.

Hagg said Rose got into an altercation with a woman at the hotel's bar around 8 a.m., and when a hotel security guard tried to stop the fight, Rose attacked him.

"He bit him on the leg and then the hotel staff called the police and we came and apprehended him," Hagg said. During the brawl, an enraged Rose broke one of the hotel's mirrors, but due to the ongoing investigation, Hagg could not give details on what Rose said to the arresting officers that could land him a charge of threatening a police official. That crime is punishable by jail time, but it is not likely Rose would be incarcerated in this case.

"He was drunk, and in the police station they took him to a cell to sleep for a few hours," Hagg said.

A spokesperson for the band's Swedish promoter, EMA, said on Tuesday morning that her understanding was Rose had not yet left jail but that the situation would likely be resolved in time for the band to play a scheduled Wednesday night show at the Spiktrum in Oslo, Norway.

"As far as I know, the concert tomorrow will be OK and will not be canceled," EMA's Catarina Oscarsson said.

In May, Rose and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger fought at a New York nightclub after the frontman reportedly moved the drink of Hilfiger's girlfriend.

A statement from Rose's manager was expected Tuesday afternoon, but has not yet been issued.

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Article in Aftonbladet (in Swedish):

https://web.archive.org/web/20060629051006/http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/noje/story/0%2C2789%2C848131%2C00.html