News Segment

COURT HEARING DELAYED FOR RUSH GUITARIST:

February 24, 2004

NAPLES, Fla. – The State Attorney’s Office has postponed an arraignment for the lead guitarist of the rock group Rush, but charged his daughter-in-law with resisting arrest.

It was the third arraignment delay for Alex Zivojinovich, known on stage as Alex Lifeson, on charges stemming from a New Year’s Eve fight with sheriff’s deputies at a posh hotel.

State Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Chere Avery said the office needed more time to “evaluate its options,” the Naples Daily News reported. His arraignment was rescheduled for March 8.

The State Attorney’s Office did charge Michelle Zivojinovich, 30, with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest without violence.

Alex Zivojinovich, 50, has been charged by the Collier County Sheriff’s Office with six counts that include aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, and disorderly intoxication.

The State Attorney’s Office could move forward on the same charges, or it could add charges or not file any charges at all.

Sheriff’s deputies said the fight started when Zivojinovich’s 33-year-old son, Justin, refused to get off stage at The Ritz-Carlton in Naples.

Alex Zivojinovich intervened when deputies were escorting his son off the property, deputies said. They accused Rush’s founding member of pushing a female deputy down a stairwell and spitting in another deputy’s face.

Zivojinovich left the jail with a bloodstained shirt and told reporters his nose was broken in the altercation.

Courtesy of Associated Press