Clearly the hot topic of recent interviews, Randy Blythe has explained the harrowing moments of when he was taken into custody in Prague for manslaughter. According to Ultimate Guitar, the frontman was forcefully confronted only minutes after landing.
Shortly after touchdown, Blythe was walking through a Prague airport and: ” When I got to the top of the ramp there was a S.W.A.T team there: five guys in masks with machine guns, three plainclothes officers and a female chief investigator.” He added that the police had perhaps over prepared: “They looked like they were there to snatch somebody from Al Qaeda, not a member of a rock’n’roll band.”
The events that followed could have come out of any Liam Neeson film: “Then they handed me a piece of paper saying they were charging me with manslaughter, and I was, ‘Oh my God.’ It was a big shock.” Blythe continued to explain how his good mental state of mind helped him through the ordeal: “If I felt anxiety or fear or depression, I really quickly checked myself because that does no good, I’ve been through a good bit in my life. I never ever heard anyone say when a crisis arrived that good advice was to panic.”
The case is still in progress and Blythe has promised to return for trial and face charges, should need be. “If it’s necessary for me to return to Prague to go to this court thing, I certainly will. I’m no flight risk.”
Despite the media hype and his own personal struggle through the situation, Blythe has kept his priorities in check, concluding, “It’s very tragic that a young man died. I feel very bad that his family has to go through it. I feel awful for them – but it’s a tragic coincidence in my mind.”
