Wizards of Waverly Place star David Henrie was unfairly attacked and detained by security guards at Universal City Walk on April 15 — and HollywoodLife.com has first-hand accounts of the shocking scene!
Wizards of Waverly Place star David Henrie and his younger brother, Lorenzo, were arrested and held for questioning for allegedly “challenging a person to fight” April 15, reports TMZ. But two eyewitnesses at the Universal City Walk scene — as well as David’s publicist — tell HollywoodLife.com what REALLY happened: The Disney star was attacked when he tried to protect his little brother!
“There were some people leaving Universal City in their car and they were being obnoxious,” an eyewitness tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively. “After they left, David’s brother was laughing and being silly about it; it seemed like he was joking about these people. Then all of a sudden, I saw a security guy push [Lorenzo]. David tried to get to his brother, and all of a sudden there were about five security guys on them.”
Adds the witness, “David was being held back as his brother was being held on the ground. They were screaming to each other, ‘Are you OK?’ He was obviously trying to help his little brother out. I am not kidding when I tell you the officers punched David a bunch of times and pushed his bro on the ground. From what I saw, they were doing nothing wrong and the security guys overreacted. There was even a guy next to [the brothers] — who didn’t even know them — that got hit by a security guy.”
A second eyewitness recalls a nearly identical scenario — one of security brutality and complete chaos.
“A bald security guard instigated and provoked [David] and punched him several times in the face,” the source tells us. “[Lorenzo] was screaming and crying from the pain of having four guys on him, and David was just trying to get the security off his little brother. Then, while one guard handcuffed David, another put his hands on the star’s throat and strangled him. He yelled, ‘You’re not so tough now. Shut the f*** up!'”
David, 20, and Lorenzo, 16, were taken into Universal custody, questioned and released after two hours around 1:30 a.m.
David’s rep, David Lust, corroborates the story, writing in a statement, “Contrary to the reports that have circulated in the media, neither David Henrie nor his 16-year-old brother Lorenzo were trying to start a fight last night at Universal City Walk. In fact, they took appropriate measures to avoid an altercation. Unfortunately, private security guards released the instigators, and became extremely aggressive with Lorenzo. When David attempted to protect his younger brother, the security guards became equally aggressive with him. Numerous witnesses at the scene confirmed that David and Lorenzo were simply trying to protect themselves from an unjustified use of force.”
Can YOU believe something like this would happen?
— Kirstin Benson