Don Dokken recently appeared in an interview with Chuck Shute and opened up about the night of the passing away of Hanoi Rocks’ Razzle.
The incident occurred when Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil was at the wheel to drive Hanoi Rocks members to the liquor store. The two bands had gathered together to celebrate Hanoi Rocks’ first US tour when they decided to take a short trip to the store. As Neil and Razzle, who allegedly had been under the influence of alcohol, made their way around a Hollywood road, Neil lost control of the vehicle and smashed into another car. The drummer passed away as a result of the crash.
After the incident, Neil was sentenced to 30 days of jail and was released ten days earlier for good behavior. During the recent interview, Dokken revealed why the Mötley Crüe rocker wasn’t properly punished.
Dokken touched on his friendship with Neil and recalled seeing him after the incident:
“He is [a nice guy] when he’s sober, I’ve known him for a long long time, he lived three blocks from me. He came over to my house, and he said, ‘Hey, I’m selling my 240Z because I’m buying a Pantera.’ And I bought the Z from him, and within a month, he only had that car for a month, and then he killed Razzle. And then I saw him a week later, which I felt bad saying it’s not my business, but I saw him a week later, and he was wasted.”
The incident wasn’t one-sided. Then-18-year-old Lisa Hogan was left with a broken arm, two broken legs, and brain damage as a result of the crash. Dokken told he also spoke to Hogan:
“And I’m thinking, well, beyond Razzle, I met the girl that he hit, she was like in a Volkswagen or something. I mean, she was totally mangled for the rest of her life, she’s really crippled. She came to a few of my shows and said, ‘I’m the girl that Vince ran into.’ I went, ‘Oh man.’ She was on a cane, scars on her face, she really got hurt.”
Dokken ultimately revealed why Neil wasn’t sentenced to a longer amount of time in jail:
“I guess when you’re famous, you can get away with it. I think he was in jail for only five days. If I did that, I’d be in jail for 30 years.”
Other rockers opened up about the day of the incident as well. Hanoi Rocks guitarist Andy McCoy earlier revealed that Neil never apologized for the crash that caused the drummer to die. McCoy also claimed that whenever Neil sees him, he runs away because ‘he knows’ what the Hanoi Rocks guitarist ‘will do.’
You can see the interview below.
