White Stripes Singer Charged with Assault
DETROIT (Reuters) – Michigan prosecutors charged Grammy-nominated singer Jack White of the band The White Stripes with aggravated assault on Monday following a fight with another singer at a Detroit club.
White, 28, could face a prison charge of up to a year if convicted on the aggravated assault charge stemming from an unprovoked attack on Jason Stollsteimer, the singer from the local garage rock band the Von Bondies, the prosecutor for Wayne County, Michigan said.
White approached Stollsteimer, 25, at the Magic Stick club in Detroit on Dec. 13, spat on him, and punched him in the face, the prosecutor said. Stollsteimer fell to the floor and White continued to hit him until he was pulled off by onlookers, the prosecutor said.
Stollsteimer suffered injuries to his right eye, which swelled shut after the fight, and was bleeding from his nose.
“It seems that far too often celebrities think that the law does not apply to them,” Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan told a news conference. “So many don’t understand the impact they have as role models on young people, and this just can’t be tolerated,”
The White Stripes, a duo of White on guitar and his former wife Meg White on drums, has been nominated for three Grammy awards. Its songs include “Seven Nation Army.” “Elephant,” the group’s critically praised album, has been nominated for album of the year.
White has received a fourth nomination for his solo work.
White has been romantically linked to actress Renee Zellweger, and he contributed music to the movie “Cold Mountain,” a U.S. Civil War drama starring Zellweger, Nicole Kidman and Jude Law.
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