In 1984, Vince Neil was responsible for the death of Nicholas Dingley, a young drummer with the band Hanoi Rocks, in Redondo Beach, California, when the sports car Neil was driving crashed head-on into another car. Neil was uninjured, though under the influence of alcohol.
Twenty years later the scene is now Las Vegas, but Neil won't need to make another $2.5 million pay out to a victim's family this time as only he was involved, as reported by the Huffington Post.
Neil, the popular singer from the band Motley Cru, was pulled over and arrested in Las Vegas on drunk driving charges at 11:15 p.m. on Sunday June 27, as reported by Clark County spokesperson Officer Bill Cassell. He had been in his black Lamborghini sports car, en route from the Las Vegas Hilton where he owns the Vince Neil Tres Rios Cantina.
Officer Cassell refused further details on the arrest or ongoing investigation, but he did say that police are currently looking into another report on Neil. This time involving a female fan and a broken camera in from of the Las Vegas Hilton.
Other times Neil had been unlawful included a misdemeanor battery charge, dismissed at least two times in California and Nevada, after he served 20 days of community service. He had allegedly "roughed up" a prostitute at a brothel in Nevada.
His bail for the current DUI, set at $2,000, was met on Monday and Neil was released. Attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld are collecting information about the arrest to defend Neil.
Neil, 49, had claimed to be living a sober life just a week before. Going so far as to state, "There's just a point in your life where you kind of stop, that's what happened to me. There's other things in life than just drugs and alcohol."
The press interviewed Neil the week before his arrest to speak about his soon to be released "tell-all" book. At that time he again contended that he hadn't used drugs or abused alcohol in 20 years. He even admired the sobriety of other top performers, "Those are the guys that are doing it right. It's the ones that self-destruct with the drugs and alcohol that have gone by the wayside many years ago."
The heavy metal band, Motley Crue, known for "bad boy" reputations, were famous in the 1980s for their songs "Girls, Girls, Girls," "Dr Feelgood" and "Home Sweet Home."
Neil left the band for a solo career and philanthropic ventures in Las Vegas in 1992. Beside the Vince Neil Tres Rios Cantina, Neil also owns a strip club, tattoo parlor, an aviation company and his own brand of Tequila.
Neil's new album, titled "Tattoos and Tequila," is a collection of rock songs from the 1970s, including a remake of Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas" hit. Fans, or former fans, have taken Neil to task on Twitter for not learning his lesson with his friend's death in 1984 and threaten to shun his new album.
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