Hayden Panettiere’s ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson was handcuffed by police after a brawl at a Greenville, South Carolina bar Saturday night.
Hickerson, 37, started yelling at cops for leaking details about Panettiere’s death as he sat cuffed on the curb, according to footage obtained by TMZ.
The one-time actor had been ‘drinking for hours’ with his brother Zach at a back table at the Wild Wing Cafe when he got up and went to the bar, according to the outlet.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Brian and Zach Hickerson’s attorney for comment but has not yet received a response.Â
Hickerson, who was wearing a green hoodie and light-colored jeans, had been talking to some people when things got heated and he picked up a bar stool and flung it backwards.
The video showed Hickerson being lifted up and carried out of the saloon by a heavy-set male in a red baseball cap as a bartender shouted, ‘Let him go!’
Hayden Panettiere’s ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson was handcuffed by police after a brawl at a Greenville, South Carolina bar Saturday nightÂ
Hickerson and Panettiere pictured in LA in December of 2018
He and his brother were brawling with some other people outside the restaurant when police arrived on the scene.Â
A source told TMZ that Hickerson was handcuffed by police and started shouting at them: ‘GPD leaked it when my girlfriend died,’ an obvious 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.
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.
Hickerson started yelling at cops for leaking details about Panettiere’s death as he sat cuffed on the curb, sources said
Hickerson had been talking to some people when things got heated and he picked up a bar stool and flung it backwardsÂ
A worker at the establishment appeared to attempt to subdue Hickerson amid the tense situation
A number of bar patrons looked on as Hickerson appeared to argue with another patronÂ
Panettiere’s toxicology reports and official cause of death have not yet been released.Â
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.
Hickerson appeared to point out another person in the bar amid the heated exchangeÂ
Others at the venue had their phones out recording the tense exchangeÂ
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
Hickerson was arrested and charged for domestic violence involving Panettiere multiple times. Above, Hickerson in a 2020 mug shot
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.’
