A video posted on Youtube could, if it is what it is claimed to be, constitute exonerating evidence for Randy Blythe, the Lamb Of God vocalist arrested for manslaughter last week in Prague, Czech Republic. The incident that led to Blythe’s arrest occured at a 2010 live performance by Lamb Of God in Prague, during which a fan received a traumatic head injury and later died of wounds sustained during the show.
A video posted on Youtube could, if it is what it is claimed to be, constitute exonerating evidence for Randy Blythe, the Lamb Of God vocalist arrested for manslaughter last week in Prague, Czech Republic. The incident that led to Blythe’s arrest occured at a 2010 live performance by Lamb Of God in Prague, during which a fan received a traumatic head injury and later died of wounds sustained during the show. Various reports have indicated that Blythe inflicted the mortal wound, and he was charged by Czech authorities with “fourth degree bodily harm resulting in death,” a charge that could carry a sentence of up to 10 years. Blythe received a bond roughly equivalent to $200,000 earlier this week, and the bond has been paid, but Czech authorities have the ability to keep him in jail until next week before making a final decision as to whether or not to accept the bail offered.
This video of the 2010 show in question may or may not depict the incident that led to Blythe being charged. The description attached to the video by the youtube uploader indicates that it was pulled from a full video containing only 30 minutes of the set performed in Prague that night. It also indicates that the uploader did not film the video, nor was he even at the show that night. So there are still a lot of potentially unanswered questions. However, this edited video does show us all of the interactions between Lamb Of God and fans who tried to get onstage during that portion of the show. The third of three interactions included in the video appears to be pretty harsh for the fan involved–after attempting to climb back onstage, he’s thrown back into the crowd and appears to land on his head, after which he looks disoriented. The clip is brief, but one thing that is clear is that, unlike the other two, much milder interactions captured on the video, this interaction doesn’t even involve Blythe. The man who throws the stagediver back over the barrier to land on his head is a bouncer–perhaps employed by the band, perhaps by the club; but not anyone performing at the time, and certainly not Blythe.
We can’t be certain that this incident is the same incident that Blythe was arrested in connection with–for all we know, the guy that died tried to get onstage before or after the person who made this video was filming. But it certainly doesn’t depict Blythe engaging in the violent sort of behavior that some of the worst reports from the concert indicate. Watch the video and decide for yourself:
