DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Two members of the rock 'n' roll band Red Hot Chili Peppers have been arrested on charges they leaped from the stage during a spring break performance and attacked a woman in the audience.
Bass guitarist Michael Balzary, known by the stage name 'Flea,' was charged with battery, disorderly conduct and solicitation to commit an unnatural and lascivious act, authorities said.
Drummer Chad Smith, 28, was charged with battery.
The Los Angeles men were arrested at a Daytona Beach hotel about 12:45 a.m. Friday, booked, then released on bond, Volusia County beach ranger Guy Grasso said.
Authorities said the woman was bruised and shaken.
'I think she sustained the injuries by trying to fight them off, when she was slammed to the ground by one of them. The other bruise she sustained to her leg when the other member tried to rip off her bathing suit,' said beach ranger Sgt. Ray Caruso.
The four-man Los Angeles band, best known for its 1989 album 'Mother's Milk,' was performing on the beach before a spring break crowd and for MTV cameras Wednesday when band members 'became wild on stage' and began 'beating up' their equipment, Grasso said. Then, Balzary and Smith jumped into the crowd.
Balzary picked up the woman and began to spin her around on his shoulders, while Smith pulled her bathing suit to one side and began to slap her bottom, Grasso said.
Officials said Balzary got on top of the woman, asked her to perform a sex act, then began to simulate the act.
After the woman cried for help, the band was escorted away. The woman apparently was picked from the audience at random and has signed a complaint against the band members, Grasso said.
Tina Exarhos, an MTV spokeswoman, said the performance would be aired this weekend on the cable channel, but the off-stage incident would be edited out.
