Brian Hickerson, the former boyfriend of actress Hayden Panettiere, was reportedly handcuffed by police following an altercation at a bar in Greenville, South Carolina, on Saturday night.
While seated on a curb in handcuffs, Hickerson, 37, was heard shouting at officers over alleged leaks concerning Panettiere’s death, according to video obtained by TMZ.
TMZ reported that Hickerson and his brother Zach had been drinking for several hours at a back table inside the Wild Wing Cafe before Hickerson walked over to the bar.
The Daily Mail said it contacted the attorney representing Brian and Zach Hickerson for comment but had not received a response.
Hickerson, dressed in a green hoodie and light-colored jeans, had reportedly been speaking with others when the confrontation escalated. He allegedly grabbed a bar stool and threw it behind him.
Video from the incident appeared to show a large man wearing a red baseball cap lifting Hickerson and carrying him out of the establishment as a bartender yelled, “Let him go!”
Brian Hickerson, Hayden Panettiere’s former boyfriend, was reportedly handcuffed after a fight at a Greenville, South Carolina, bar on Saturday night. The pair are pictured in 2018.
Hickerson, 37, allegedly shouted at police about information concerning Panettiere’s death while handcuffed, according to TMZ footage. Panettiere is pictured at the 2022 Los Angeles premiere of Blonde.
By the time officers arrived, Hickerson and his brother were reportedly involved in a fight with several people outside the restaurant.
A source told TMZ that Hickerson began yelling after police placed him in handcuffs, saying: “GPD leaked it when my girlfriend died,” in what the outlet described as a reference to Panettiere’s death.
Hickerson managed to avoid arrest and was released. However, Zach was reportedly heavily intoxicated and ‘yelling profanities,’ leading to his arrest for disorderly conduct.
Hickerson and Zach were both present at the Greenville, South Carolina condo where Panettiere was pronounced dead at age 36.
According to the Greenville Police Department’s incident report, Zach told police that Hickerson was sleeping in a separate room of the Airbnb when he arrived and found the actress unresponsive in a chair.
Zach stated that Hickerson administered Narcan – a medication that reverses opioid overdoses – and that they performed CPR while communicating with 911 dispatchers.
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Hickerson has since met with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) amid their investigation into the actress’ suspected overdose death, TMZ previously reported.
Local and federal investigators reportedly believe the actress was sold drugs that may have caused her death, and authorities are now focused on identifying the suspected dealer.
The one-time actor had been ‘drinking for hours’ with his brother Zach at the Wild Wing Cafe when he got into a heated argument with some other people and flung a bar stool behind him
Panettiere wrote about her volatile and often abusive relationship with Hickerson in her memoir that was published on May 19, just three months before she died of a suspected drug overdose
Hickerson was arrested and charged for domestic violence involving Panettiere multiple times. Above, Hickerson in a 2020 mug shot
Panettiere’s toxicology reports and official cause of death have not yet been released.
The Nashville star had a volatile and tumultuous on-and-off relationship with Hickerson beginning in 2018.
Hickerson was arrested and charged for domestic violence involving Panettiere multiple times.
In 2021, he pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend, resulting in jail time, probation, domestic violence classes, $500 in restitution, and a five-year protective order, per People.
Zach previously told TMZ: ‘There are a lot of assumptions, speculations and accusations currently swirling.
‘The truth will come out as the authorities complete and release additional details from the investigation. And that is important because the people who loved and adored Hayden deserve the truth.’
Zach described Panettiere as ‘one of the most precious individuals on this earth.’
He also argued that the star’s friends and family should be allowed to mourn her passing without any ‘additional noise.’
He added: ‘At this time, I want to clarify my involvement in effort to keep the focus on the fact that we lost one of the most precious individuals on this earth and to allow those that cared about her to mourn without additional noise, chaos, and misinformation being created and propagated by the media as well as the public.’