Larry Ryckman, a well-known music producer in Arizona, was arrested from his home in Scottsdale after a "domestic dispute." On the sixth of October, Ryckman called 911 after reportedly fighting with an unidentified woman in his Scottsdale home, according to ABC News.
Despite being the one who alerted the police, he was the one arrested for assault — it seemed he had gone too far during the fight. The police report stated that Ryckman told officers that, while he was not worried about his own safety, he had gone "apes—t" during the course of the fight and had become violent. He was quick to specify that he had done "nothing weird" to the woman during their disagreement, and revealed that both of them had been drinking before the shocking, violent incident.
Who Is Larry Ryckman?
Larry Ryckman is an extremely prominent music producer who has worked with the likes of Madonna, Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson. None of that matters when you assault someone, however — as Ryckman quickly found out when he was arrested. Not quite himself, he was rude and confrontational with the officers (never a smart move) and threatened to actually assault one of the policemen for being "wrong." So concerned was he about the incident that, according to a report, he repeated himself several times, and even said the whole thing would be "all over TMZ."
Ryckman claimed the woman was his wife of thirty years and that, according to him, she often gave herself injuries while fighting with him.
During the assault, Ryckman broke her phone for trying to record him talking to a business associate. His explanation for why the altercation started? According to him, the dispute started over a disagreement between his wife and his mother.
What The Woman Told Police
According to what the woman told the police, Ryckman pushed her down several times and would not let her get up, chasing her through the many rooms of the house. He also apparently hated her phone, took it from her, and broke it.
She was in bad condition, quite banged up — a large number of cuts on her body and an injured elbow, the trophies of the assault.
All of this, apparently, for only being recorded on a phone while he spoke with a business associate. These are serious allegations, though the case is unresolved and Ryckman has not been convicted of anything. The artists he worked with might not have known this side of his character — and now, very suddenly, he may find he has to look harder for clients.
The Aftermath
The officer involved spoke about the arrest:
"Obviously violence between parties that are considered domestic violence can… can… obviously spiral out of control quickly. If those situations are not handled, they can get worse over time."
Larry Ryckman later released a statement to ABC15:
"For the record, my wife of over 30 years is not pressing charges, nor did she ever want to press charges. I was the one who called the police because a dispute was getting out of hand.
I'm sure you're aware that in Scottsdale the vast majority of domestic-dispute calls to the police result in an arrest — and virtually always the man — out of an abundance of caution. I was not aware of this when I called the police to break up our dispute that night."
Through the statement, he tried to imply that there was no real need for him to be arrested, and that the arrest was made simply because the police tend to arrest the male party in such cases. He argued it was clearly excessive caution on the part of the police, and that is why, in his view, the arrest meant nothing. He also made clear that he had not known this to be the case when he called — otherwise, of course, he would not have. After all, who wants to be arrested?
The entire case may have been nothing more than an exaggerated misunderstanding — but that is impossible to say at this point.