Brian Hickerson, the on-off ex-boyfriend of the late actress Hayden Panettiere, was involved in a motorcycle crash in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday evening, just minutes after he picked his brother Zach up from jail, the Daily Mail reported.
Exclusive footage obtained by the outlet shows Zach Hickerson, 38, limping in pain after being thrown from the back of the bike when it allegedly clipped a car in traffic. Brian, 37, was riding a Suzuki Hayabusa.
Onlookers said Brian helped Zach hobble to the curb before riding off on the motorcycle, leaving his brother to swap insurance details with the driver of the car.
Crash follows jail release
The alleged collision happened at 5.30pm on Sunday, after Zach was released from the Greenville County Detention Center on a $257.50 personal recognizance bond and Brian arrived to collect him.
Zach lost a shoe in the fall. It was not immediately clear who was to blame for the crash or whether he was seriously hurt. Both brothers wore crash helmets, and the Daily Mail said neither responded when contacted for comment.
Bar brawl the night before
The crash came hours after the brothers were handcuffed at the scene of a bar brawl on Saturday night at the Wild Wing Cafe in Greenville, which left Brian with blood streaming from his face and Zach facing a disorderly conduct charge.
A heckler taunted Brian at the bar, shouting "You killed her. You probably beat her," according to TMZ. In video from the incident that went viral, Brian is heard saying, "GPD leaked it when my girlfriend died."
Brian reportedly threw a bar stool but was not arrested. Police said Zach was held on the disorderly conduct charge after being highly intoxicated and yelling profanities.
Friend says Brian 'not dealing with things well'
Family friends said the bar outing was an attempt to draw Brian out of the despair that has gripped him since Panettiere's death on August 16, and that he has barely left his grandmother's home in the weeks since.
"Brian is not dealing with things well," a concerned friend told the Daily Mail. "I would go in there and try to see him but he would probably want to fight me. Me and the rest of the world. He is all kinds of f****d up right now."
Brian has reportedly lost 40 pounds since Panettiere died last month from a suspected fentanyl overdose.
Panettiere's death and the investigation
Panettiere, 36, an actress best known for the TV series "Heroes" and "Nashville," was found unresponsive at an Airbnb in Greenville after flying there from Los Angeles. Brian grew up in Greenville.
Brian told police he woke from a nap and administered Narcan before paramedics arrived but was unable to revive her. Zach, a pastor and former healthcare executive, was also present, and both men attempted CPR.
According to a police report, Zach was "very emotional" as first responders tried to save Panettiere, a mother of one, while Brian remained stoic and did not become visibly emotional until after she was pronounced dead. He handed officers a bag of medication she had been taking, the report said.
An official cause of death has not been determined. Investigators are reportedly closing in on a "longtime drug dealer" based in Los Angeles, and TMZ reported that law enforcement sources believe Panettiere took a single oxycodone pill on the morning of her death that was laced with fentanyl.
Investigators are said to be examining text messages between Panettiere and the alleged supplier, including messages exchanged in the week before she died, to establish where the pill came from. Brian has spoken with federal investigators as part of the probe but has not been arrested or accused of wrongdoing.
A volatile relationship
Panettiere and Brian began dating in 2018 and had a volatile on-again, off-again relationship marked by domestic abuse allegations. Brian was arrested in 2019 over an alleged attack on Panettiere and arrested again in Wyoming in February 2020.
He pleaded no contest in 2021 to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend and was sentenced to 45 days, of which he served 13. Panettiere later wrote about the relationship and the abuse she said she endured in her memoir.
Zach, who described Panettiere as "one of my dearest and closest friends" after her death, also had a brief relationship with her. The two were photographed holding hands in New York City in 2019, when an onlooker remarked, "They looked very comfortable. Like a real couple."
Lawyer and coroner respond
Brian's lawyer, Sloane Ellis, has been contacted for comment on the crash. Ellis previously said: "Hayden's death remains under investigation, and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed. As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play."
The Greenville County Coroner's office told the Daily Mail: "It should not be much longer before the Coroner's Investigation report is complete to include the cause and manner of death."
