Clad in his trademark gold lamé dinner jacket on New Year’s Eve, Rod Stewart delivered a lightning-fast right hook to a security guard of a fancy Florida hotel, according to a surveillance video obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.
The footage shows the altercation occurred seconds after the 75-year-old singer mocked the security guard who prevented him access to the children’s area of The Breakers Palm Beach resort.
Stewart appears to perform an ironic Hitler salute with his right arm extended high above his head while he formed a mustache with his left pointer finger, a la John Cleese in Fawlty Towers.
He then appears to swing at Jessie Dixon, the 33-year-old security guard who claims he was attacked by the duo and is expected to file a civil suit against Stewart and his 39-year-old son Sean over the incident.
The night ended with Stewart and Sean arrested and charged with simple battery, a misdemeanor that could land them up to a year in jail.
Rod Stewart appears to punch security guard Jessie Dixon in an altercation on New Year’s Eve, according to footage obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com
The incident was sparked when Stewart and his large party were denied access to the children’s area of The Breakers Palm Beach resort in Florida on New Year’s Eve
Security guard Dixon (pictured) is also expected to sue Stewart and his son in civil court but has yet to file an official complaint
Rod’s big night out: Stewart is seen with fans at the Breakers Hotel on the night the fight went down. Stewart and his 39-year-old son Sean were arrested and charged with simple battery, a misdemeanor that could land them up to a year in jail
The father and son pleaded not guilty in January and their case is due in court in West Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday. Neither is expected to appear before the judge.
Dixon has yet to file an official civil complaint against the two.
According to the surveillance video, which has no sound, the tussle lasted about four seconds shortly after 10:08pm during preparations for the final countdown to 2020.
The footage shows the singer arriving with a large group about 10:03pm near the Breakers children’s playground. A check-in table was set up for a private party scheduled to start later that night.
The video shows Stewart’s group, which included his wife Penny Lancaster along with their two boys, 14-year-old Alastair and Aiden, 8. Sean can be seen in the background at first in a silver lamé jacket.
The group is stopped at the table by an attendant, the footage shows but Stewart ignores the worker and starts strutting around as if he were on a concert stage.
He then slips behind the attendant and acts like a gorilla about to grab her. Once she turns around, he stands with hands in his pockets as if he’d done nothing.
According to the incident report filed with the court by Palm Beach Police, the singer and his family were loud and argumentative when the attendant told them they couldn’t access the playground.
Stewart appears to perform an ironic Hitler salute with his right arm extended high above his head while he formed a mustache with his left pointer finger, a la John Cleese in Fawlty Towers
Stewart and his son Sean (pictured in LA in 2015) pleaded not guilty and their case is due in court in West Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday. Neither is expected to appear before the judge
Dixon, in his black suit, arrives in view of the camera about 10:06pm and both Stewart and Sean, as well as an unidentified male approach him.
At that point, the discussion seems friendly. Stewart’s hands are down or in his pockets as several children from his group start playing on the small playground. He even places his left hand on Dixon’s shoulder, which Dixon doesn’t appear to mind.
About one minute later, Stewart becomes more animated as Dixon stands fast on his decision not to let them in. Dixon is seen pointing at the children on the playground as if to say they need to get out.
At 10:07pm, Stewart is seen on security footage briefly walking a few steps away before returning to Dixon and mimes what appears to be an ironic Hitler salute and a finger-mustache.
The scene turns ugly within 10 seconds.
Sean slides into Dixon’s personal space who then places the back of his right hand on Sean’s chest, seemingly creating a personal boundary.
Sean, 39, then appears to push Dixon backwards with both hands.
Stewart gets involved and seemingly throws a nasty-looking right hook as Dixon steadies himself and walks towards Sean.
It’s unclear from the footage whether the rocker’s fist connected with Dixon. The police report, however, has Dixon claiming the singer’s fist struck him on the left side of the chest.
According to the incident report filed with the court by Palm Beach Police, the singer and his family were loud and argumentative when the attendant told them they couldn’t access the playground
The party is stopped at the table by an attendant, the footage shows, but Stewart ignores the staffer and starts strutting around as if he were on a concert stage. He then slips behind the attendant and acts like a gorilla about to grab her. Once she turns around, he just stands with hands in his pockets as if he’d done nothing (pictured)
Stewart is currently rehearsing for his upcoming tour in a West Palm Beach sound stage while living at his $30 million-mansion in Palm Beach, which is within walking distance of Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s private club and residence. Pictured: Stewart with a fan on New Year’s Eve
The scuffle calmed down as quickly as it flared up with members of Rod’s party, including wife Penny, playing peacemakers.
The police report noted that Stewart apologized before he left the area.
‘It’s obvious Rod wasn’t going to get involved until he felt his son was in danger,’ said a source in Stewart’s camp. ‘Rod was just trying to defend his boy. No jury in Florida is going to convict him for that.’
Stewart is currently rehearsing for his upcoming tour in a West Palm Beach sound stage while living at his $30 million-mansion in Palm Beach, which is within walking distance of Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s private club and residence.
The famous father and his son have retained high-powered attorney Guy Fronstin as their lawyer.
He has represented suspects in nationally covered crimes and trials covered gavel-to-gavel, including John Goodman, a polo club owner who killed a teenager in a DUI crash, Michael Dippolito, the husband of a woman who tried to pay an assassin to kill him but ended up hiring an undercover police officer, and Karyn Turk, a former Mrs. Florida convicted to stealing her dying mother’s social security checks.
Fronstin called the incident a ‘misunderstanding.’
‘This is an unfortunate situation,’ Fronstin said. ‘I’m just glad no one was hurt. It was all a big misunderstanding.’
Dixon’s lawyer, Gwayne Kelly, was not available for comment.