A bottle thrown from the crowd at the Riverrock outdoor music festival on Saturday night hit Toots and the Maytals singer Frederick Hibbert, sending him to the hospital.
The bottle was apparently thrown by 19-year old William Lewis who was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and public intoxication. Investigators say they are looking into how Lewis got hold of the bottle–which was a heavy vodka container–and say they believe he stole it from an open bar area.
“We believe it was stolen from the mixed-beverage sales area and not brought in from the outside,” Jack Berry, executive director of Richmond Venues, said. “We will of course debrief the incident and determine whether there are any improvements we can make to our security procedures.”
Hibbert staggered offstage after the bottle hit and had to be rushed to the hospital to close up a laceration on his head. The performance was cut short by about 15 minutes.
“Dominion Riverrock is a wonderful event for our community, but unfortunately this edition has been marred by the actions of one individual…This was one individual who committed a horrible act,” Berry said.