Wes Scantlin, main character of the multi-platinum-selling post grunge band Puddle of Mudd, has had yet another run-in with law enforcement, this time resulting in a SWAT team being deployed to the scene in Burbank, California.
According to TMZ, the incident followed a traffic stop which revealed an outstanding warrant resulting from a 2017 charge for attempting to bring a BB gun onto a plane at LAX. Refusing to exit his vehicle, a crisis negotiator was sent to get him to comply. When this didn't work, officers used pepper spray on Scantlin, to little effect. Finally, a SWAT team was deployed to Scantlin's location, at which point pepper balls were shot at him until he finally surrendered and exited the vehicle.
Scantlin was sent to the hospital to be treated for injuries from the pepper spray and pepper balls. In the end, he was booked for his original outstanding warrant in addition to a new charge of resisting arrest. His court arraignment is set for August 27th.
This incident is only the latest in what’s become over a decade’s worth of increasingly sad and troubled behavior from Scantlin. A 2012 altercation with a flight attendant led to an arrest for public intoxication, while in 2015 he was arrested twice in the same month for DUIs and cannabis possession. An additional layer was added in 2016 when he was charged with felony vandalism while entering a home he’d lost in a foreclosure, the same home he was arrested at again in 2023 for trespassing and threatening a maid. Scantlin has become notorious over the years for onstage rants regarding the loss of his home, which he has framed as a theft.
Scantlin has made attempts to set his life on track over the years. In a 2019 interview with Kerrang!, he reflected on a three-month stint in prison with gratitude for the changes it forced upon him, saying:
“I’m blessed by God for having to endure that kind of incarceration, which is mind-blowing and crazy, but it’s obviously helped me get to another chapter in my life which is filled with love and positivity and joy and happiness.”
But in the same interview he admits to conducting it while hiding in his bathroom, an unnamed ex screaming and pounding on the front door. Repeating words of faith and forward-looking grace, Scantlin’s positivity feels nervy, overcranked. “I thank him for everything that’s ever happened in my life. I thank him a bunch and thank him a bunch and then throw in a little, ‘Maybe you could make this happen…’ for some happiness in my life.”
