HERE’S HARLEY FLANAGAN’S ACCOUNT OF THE CRO-MAGS STABBING
Former Cro-Mags bassist Harley Flanagan stabbed two current members of the band over the weekend and claimed it was self-defense, which a lot us don’t really buy. But now he’s spoken at great lengths to New York Natives, and I want everyone to read his full account of the events in question, without interruption or editorializing from me. ‘Cause he is definitely being accused of a heinous crime, and he does definitely deserve to try and prove his innocence.
So. Flanagan says he was invited to visit the band in the backstage dressing room — and then this happened:
“When I saw that [dressing room] door get pulled shut I was literally fighting for my life. I was afraid these guys were going to kick me half to death, roll me down the back steps and that no one would see it… and there would be no witnesses and that would be that….and all I could think about was getting home safe to my kids…I wanted to save my life, to protect myself and these guys were trying to do me in.
“…I was getting the shit beat out of me. It was like an old fashion biker beat down, like BA BABABABABA BA And at that point everybody started screaming and I saw the door of the dressing room open and I started screaming security, security and I saw somebody pull the door shut to keep security out. And in my mind I thought to myself, “fuck, these dudes, their intention is to fuck me up, they don’t want no one to see it they’re trying to beat the shit out of me…SO what I did was defend my life…”
“…I’m getting the shit beat out of me. …Then at that point that’s when the bouncers managed to get in the room and I ended up getting dragged out into the balcony area, which is where everybody says the mêlée took place but no the mêlée took place in the dressing room behind a locked door where I was getting jumped people by myself.
“One dude says get on your stomach, get on your stomach, put your hands out in front of you and this one guy, big guy steps on my back and he’s standing with both of his feet on my back….and one guy is literally looking at me squeezing my throat choking me and … at this point it was DMS guys and security I don’t know who the fuck was which…one guy looks at me and says motherfucker I’ll fucking kill you…I will kick you in your fucking face until you are dead motherfucker stop moving.. and I’m just like Yo, I’m stopping moving at that point. And one guy’s like put your hands out in front of you and I’m like are you a cop and he’s like yeah and I’m like show me your badge and at that point ….the boys in blue hallelujah…the cops came running up the stairs… I was like fine, I’m not moving anymore … please cuff me, I stuck my hands out in front of me.. I’m face down on the floor. At that point I still didn’t know that I had been stabbed, I got 30 stitches in my leg. Thank God it was in my leg …and the cops cuffed me, turned me over and that’s when I saw the wound in my leg…
“[It] was just grotesque…the blood was bubbling out of it, the fischa was ..the tendons was literally hanging out of my leg….that’s why people started saying that’s a compound fracture…it was until I got cleaned up in the ambulance they realized it was more of a stab wound. And that’s when the cops put me on the chair. And they put me in the ambulance.”
You can see photos of Flanagan’s stitches at New York Natives.
I know this is a terrible thing to say, but I kinda think that Flanagan would look even more beat-up if that many dudes jumped him, let alone jumped him bad enough that he thought he had to fight for his life. That being said, those stitches certainly are grotesque, and I’ve never been jumped — I am completely basing my assessment of how severe medical injuries look on a lifetime of Bruce Willis movies.
So what do you guys think? Does this make believe Flanagan’s side of the story — or do you still call bullshit?
-AR
[via The PRP]
