In a shocking and bizarre turn of events, the wife of Allman Bros. founding member Dickey Betts, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of a weapons-related charge after allegedly terrorizing a group of high school students.
The incident, which was captured on video via cell phone, occurred outside Dickey and Donna Betts’ home in Osprey, Florida on Monday (March 27th) at around 5:30 pm. It was then, that Mrs. Betts had an altercation with the Sarasota Crew rowing team.
According to deputies, who subsequently arrested Betts, she came out of the house and walked out onto her private dock while crew members from the team were getting into the water with their boats. Betts is accused of brandishing a 30-30 Winchester rifle at the rowing team and coaches, pointing it at them several times while yelling at them to stay off of her property. As ABC 7 WWSB reports, the police statement states “the video depicts the fear in the students’ voices as they ask why she was pointing the rifle at them.”
The video footage also shows Betts tossing the weapon into the water toward the end and it was later recovered by deputies. The police report further shows that Betts phoned emergency services about 15 minutes later, saying “The crew from Sarasota High School have destroyed her life and she has had it.”
Betts was charged and, later, granted bail on 18 counts of aggravated assault with a firearm. Her bail was set at $180,000 and she was released with strict supervisory conditions. The rowing organization and other have stated that this is not the first incident they have encountered with the Betts’.
About a year ago, Dickey Betts decided to stop all touring and performances after suffering the devastating loss of his close brother, Joel.
Watch the full report from WFLA News Channel 8 below.