RUSH - RUSH STAR STUNNED BY VERDICT

RUSH STAR STUNNED BY VERDICT

LATEST: RUSH star ALEX LIFESON was stunned when he heard the police deputies who arrested him and his son at a party in 2003 would not face charges of being overzealous. Last week (ends13Apr07) US District Judge Paul Magnuson ruled the officers from the Collier County Sheriff's Department "were objectively reasonable" in their behaviour - even though they Tasered Lifeson and his son Justin and broke the guitarist's nose in a fight at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Naples, Florida. As a result, the police deputies have been cleared of any wrongdoing - something Lifeson, real name Alex Zivojinovich, cannot believe. In an interview with The RockRadio.com this morning (17Apr07), the rocker said, "I was quite shocked with the judge's ruling, as all my lawyers were shocked. And I think that if you probably asked the defendant's lawyers, they would have to admit that they were surprised, too. The ruling was just so overwhelming. "All we can do is go to appeal. I know what happened to me... (and) I know the brutality of these police officers, and I know the way the hotel behaved. "Someone else's opinion is someone else's opinion, but I was there, and I know what it was like."