Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart Issues Statement About Arrest Warrant

As previously reported, an arrest warrant was issued earlier this week for former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. Allegations of assault against Hart from a concert goer at a recent performance led to the warrant, but the musician denies any and all involvement in a new statement.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a judge in Mercer County, Ky. issued the warrant for Hart when Cecil "CJ" Curtsinger signed a statement claiming that Hart "threw him down, cursed him, hit him, (and) pushed him" after the Terrapin Hill Harvest Festival in Harrodsburg, Ky. on Sept. 7. The charge of fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor, carries a sentence of up to a year in jail. Curtsinger declined to comment other that to add, "I'm still trying to figure it out myself. It's kind of a sad situation."

In an statement issued via Twitter and Facebook, Hart said the following:

"I am totally baffled by a bizarre claim of assault by me coming out of Kentucky – the home of Bluegrass and a state I love dearly. Any accusation or claim of assault against me is completely false and without any basis whatsoever. I played drums on “Shakedown Street,” but I never expected to be “The Victim or the Crime.”