Rock star Rod Stewart reaches plea deal after altercation in Palm Beach
Singer and son accused of punching hotel guard
Rock legend Rod Stewart and his son have reached a deal with South Florida prosecutors over misdemeanor battery charges stemming from a New Year’s Eve 2020 confrontation at The Breakers in Palm Beach.
Lawyers on Friday announced they would not be heading to a trial in the case where the “Reason to Believe” singer was accused of punching a security guard in the chest. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The incident, according to a Palm Beach Police report, happened when children in
Stewart’s entourage were apparently refused access to a private kids’ party area about 11 p.m. Dec. 31, 2019.
As the guard manned a check-in table, the superstar recording artist and his clan refused to go after being advised by the guard that they were “unauthorized,” police said.
The group with Stewart, 76, and his son, Sean Stewart, 40, proceeded to “get loud and cause a scene,” according to the report.
What happened in the next few seconds resulted in the charges of simple battery against both men. Police gave this description of the encounter:
Sean Stewart got “about nose to nose” with the 34-year-old
security guard, who then put his hand on Stewart’s chest and told him to back up and make space. Stewart then shoved the security guard backward.
At that point, Sir Rod stepped forward and punched the guard in his “left ribcage area.”
Two employees of the hotel confirmed this account in sworn witness statements.
Stewart, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, told police the guard became argumentative and that the family got “agitated.”
The singer “apologized for his behavior in the incident,” Officer Stephen Mancino wrote in the arrest report.
Since then, the Stewarts’ lawyer, Guy Fronstin of Boca Raton, has been negotiating a plea deal with Assistant State Attorney Zachary O’Neill.
“It sounds like everything’s been worked out,” said attorney Alexandra Antonacci, speaking Friday on behalf of Fronstin.
She told Palm Beach County Judge August Bonavita that the only thing left to complete is the paperwork in the case of the State of Florida v. Roderick David Stewart, and Sean Roderick Stewart.
“One of our clients is out of the country,” Antonacci said.
Bonavita scheduled a hearing for March 26 to formally close out the matter.
“The case has to resolve or it will end up on the trial list if it does not,” the judge said.