Law&Crime Sidebar - 'Reacher' Star's Neighborhood Brawl Caught on Bodycam

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

"Reacher" star Alan Ritchson's viral confrontation with a neighbor in Brentwood, Tennessee, got a lot of negative press, but newly released body camera footage and Ritchson's own chest-cam video tell the full story. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the dramatic video evidence, the police incident report, and Ritchson’s claim of self-defense.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code SIDEBAR at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/sidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

An actor known for his buff physique and wild action stunts on the hit Amazon Prime show, Reacher, allegedly faced off against one of his neighbors in a real-life physical confrontation, but there is a lot more to this story than maybe just that one viral video you may have seen. He gets back up off his bike and then, like, beats the shit out of me. A situation like this, which I'm sure looks bad for me, but is self-defense. Including what seemingly happened from Alex. Richson's point of view. I've called them already because you'll be driving out of the

neighborhood like a fucking lunatic. Yeah, you may have seen bits and pieces of this story. We have so much more. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Look, I've got to say something. As I cover these stories, I'm always thinking about the danger out there for all of you. What about this?

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Turns out databases had my information and within days, Incogni was taking them down. And the setup is simple. You just create an account. Incogni is going to do the rest. Plus, their new Unlimited Plans custom removals feature lets you submit specific links that their privacy experts will personally investigate and remove. So if you care about staying safe and I hope that you do, take your privacy back with Incogni, go to incogny.com slash sidebar, use code sidebar for 60% off an annual plan. Alan Ritchson might be one of the most formidable looking actors in Hollywood right now. I feel very comfortable saying that. Have you seen this guy? Forty-three years old, best known as the star of the show, Reacher, stands six foot three inches tall, more than 200 pounds.

Most of it is pure muscle. So I have to say, it was pretty shocking to see this video of him. apparently attacking one of his neighbors in Brentwood, Tennessee, this affluent area outside of Nashville. That was the initial accusation. That was the initial belief. But then there was a lot more to the story. Okay, a lot more video that helped tell this story. Because now we have newly released body cam footage and video from Richson's own camera strapped to his chest that apparently shows what may have happened before and after this viral confrontation. So now you're going to have a 360 degree picture of what went down. And we're going to talk about where all this footage came from. But just here's a sample. He's obviously a liar. He said I hit him on the bike. Call me a c. He was instigating whatever. He was obviously the aggressor

here in my opinion. Okay. So let's start with the witness video from March 22nd. You know what it is. It quickly swept the internet. Everybody was talking about it when viral. Now because of YouTube guidelines, I have to be clear, we can't show you the first few seconds of the witness video where Richson apparently hits a man identified as Ronnie Taylor multiple times as he's on the ground. That was, again, the allegation, the accusation. But the camera then zooms in on Richson as he appears to walk away, picks up his green motorcycle, pushing it onto the grass, falls over. Now, although there's no audio, Taylor can be seen yelling and waving his arms before he

walks up to the driveway of a large home. And Richson drives off. This is followed by two of his three children who are on their own bikes. Taylor did an interview with TMZ after his video of the confrontation came out. It went viral, showing what appeared to be some swelling and red scrapes on his face. But Richson himself hinted that there was more to the story. He posted a quote attributed to Napoleon on his Instagram saying, Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

So what did we do? We requested more video from Brentwood Police, right? To see what else happened here? What was the other angles? Okay, and that is what we have. That is what I want to break down for you right now. We also have an incident report from Brentwood PD2 that explains what multiple officers encountered when they got to this neighborhood. So you're learning a little bit more about the different stages of this investigation.

And we learned during the course of our research that Richson and Taylor, their homes are less than a mile away from each other in the same neighborhood. And it appears that Richson was out for a weekend ride with his kids. Now, one of the officers spoke with a witness who said he was driving when he, quote, saw a mail in a blue shirt, later identified as Ronnie Taylor, approached the mail on a bike, later identified as Alan Rixon in the middle of the street, and they were yelling at each other. The witness then stated they both started pounding on each other and stopped. Then the male on the bike drove away. The incident report continues. I was also able to review video footage from the neighbor's camera whose Sergeant Thigpin also spoke with. This video showed Mr. Taylor approaching the middle of the street, Mr. Ritchson falling off his

motorcycle, then getting up and pushing Mr. Taylor back towards his residence. Then, as Mr. Taylor falls backwards, Mr. Ritchson is seen steadily walking up towards Mr. Taylor, but the video is unable to show what occurs afterwards. This is important because in any self-defense analysis, you have to ask who's the initial aggressor, right? Who started the physical altercation? Who presented the first threat? An argument could be that when you look at the video, at least characterized by law enforcement, it appears to show Taylor as the one who started. He allegedly goes in the middle of the street to stop Richson, who's driving a motorcycle, an incredibly,

incredibly dangerous act, right? Or alleged act. Here's Tennessee law on this, by the way. It says, quote, a person who is not engaged in conduct that would constitute a felony or class A misdemeanor. And by the way, I'm sure if this ever went to trial, Taylor would make the argument that, you know, look, Rixon was speeding up and down, right? And maybe he was violating the law. But I think that could be a stretch. Anyway, a person who's not engaged in conduct that would constitute a felony or class A misdemeanor and is in a place where the person has a right to be.

I mean, again, the argument would be Rixon and his children are just driving as they can on a public street. to do that. So this person, where they have a legal right to be, they're not breaking the law, they have no duty to retreat before threatening or using force against another person when and to the degree the person reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful force. There's a second provision to this section. No duty to retreat before threatening or using force intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury. If the person has a reasonable belief that there is an imminent danger of death, serious bodily injury, or grave sexual abuse, that last part doesn't apply.

The danger is real or honestly believed to be real at the time. And the belief of danger is founded upon reasonable grounds. Now, what is reasonable in these circumstances, right? The argument would be Richson is driving with his kids. Stranger or this guy gets in the middle of the street, stops. The motorcycle, it's very dangerous. Is he presenting himself as a danger to Richson and his children? And there's an allegation that Taylor pushed Richson, that he started this. Okay, so you have all that in mind. We go forward.

I want to go back to the video. So here's what Taylor told some of the first officers on scene. And based on his comments, it seems he didn't even know who he was apparently squaring off with. In a green Kawasaki, like, jazzing the rebs, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, dude, come on. Yeah. Like, this is a, this kid's rolling around in all the other. We don't need you doing 40, 50 miles now.

And he flips me to birds. I'm like, yeah, whatever, there we go. Sorry, I rolled my bike out this afternoon to clean it up. And he comes through the neighborhood. Full, full revs with two kids on, I think, e-bikes. He goes up the hill, comes back down. I walk out and stop and say, hey, guy, dude, you got to stop. You got to stop, like, in these neighborhoods.

so he hit his brakes hard because I was like trying to stop him I was like he falls off his bike he gets up and he starts wailing you can see this he starts wading on me he needs medical attention no I'm fine so so so then I'm like he gets back in his bike and I'm like it starts getting like freshly I push him back he gets back up off his bike and then like beats the out of me I didn't push back I didn't push back But he's like, oh, God. And I was like, can you just stop riding around in like a...

Right. There's kids here, man. Okay. So you can see you. Yeah, I see you. That's what... And I'm on the floor. I was scared.

I'm out here with the victim. And all I was trying to be my bike. Do you know who it is? I don't know. Did you get... Did you do any other day? Or anything? Sorry? Did you get a tag on the green caroussacchi?

No, no, no. He was a green Kawasaki with a big, a musli dude. Yeah, he was like huge, huge dude. And I pushed him back and then he fell like, because he fell over the... What was he, what was he wearing? Uh, I reckon just regular... You do? Yeah, you can see, you can, I just brought my black tank, because... Two times.

I know he said he didn't want any, but he's got me. want any but he's got a pretty large abrasion on his head and it's swollen pretty bad so let's go down the ground again let me see that room yeah good no good temple that's where the orange dirt bike is that no issues through our neighborhood. He's crazy speed. Is that how it's, because I think I just heard you guys. Well, I heard him like, I heard him, like, I heard him revving and I do like, because I'm

riding motorcycles all the time, so I kind of like, I know, and I'm very respectful. I'm sorry, officer. I like that. No, no, you're good. So I do have, I am just given the size of that knot on your head, I'm going to have fire in EMS just come out. You can refuse. Yeah, I'd rather them check you out.

It's really big, buddy. Yeah, I'd rather you'd be checked out. Because he laid a couple of, I didn't try to hit it back. I didn't push him. I was like enough it's enough because he hit me once. I was like, and then when I went to the ground, he like rolled onto me and like laid in in front of these two kids, which I find disturbing.

And I could tell you opposite, I didn't, I did push him once. Well, I mean, it looked like it was after he had already struck you. Yeah, I did push him away because, and then when I pushed him away, his bike fell over, I think. I'm not sure if you have a camera or not. But there'll be cameras there. camera's there. And then when he did that, he just like wailed on me. And when I went to the ground, he just beat him out of me, which is why I went into it. Like, I wasn't going to fight him. He's a

big dude. I wasn't interesting now. He's like, have you had a drink? Have you been drink? I said, yeah, I had a drink while I'm watching the soccer today in my house. Right. And I bring my bike out. And you can see, I was bringing my bike out to clean it. He comes around the court with, you know, it's just, it's unnecessary. And you know, go and enjoy yourself. And you, you know, go and yourself on your bike but don't ride around unnecessary speeds especially with two kids with you and two kids with him so in front of the two kids he literally kicked out of me and i i wasn't in a fight back right but he um he did his work on me and i absolutely want to press charges for sure okay all right i would normally but the fact that he like went once and twice i just don't think it's um

I didn't use, it's unnecessary. How are you? Here, how are you doing? I've got it today. Okay, I've got it. I haven't seen him yet. I know he's up there, but, so neighbor across here, she was in the window right there. She filmed it.

I just got the email sent to me now from her, so I've got video footage of it. And then neighbor here also came out, and they've got a ring camera, and then also a camera up on the side of the house there that may have caught it. caught it and hopefully we can at least get do something so is it a dad's praying you oh yeah big dude so then a sergeant arrives on scene and figures out it was likely Alan Ritson involved in this altercation and the sergeant is able to get him on the phone first take a listen hello hey is this Alan yes it is hey Alan this is sergeant Townsend with the Bruntwood police department from your house i understand there was an altercation that occurred on the other side of the

neighborhood i'd like for you to come out and talk yes there was okay can you come out and talk to me about that yeah i'm i'm the only caretaker right now with my kids i got three kids inside so if you guys are close enough i can come out okay yeah yeah i'll just meet you on your on your front porch yeah you got okay perfect thank you bye hey allan hey good hey good hey good i'm just trying to contact my attorney oh you're good i think you remember officer smith from yesterday? Oh, yeah. It's been a weird two days. So all we want to do is talk about what happened over there. Okay, I just, obviously my life is very high stakes one. Sure. Very public, so I just, I think I need my attorney to just be privy to this. Ritchson seems to try to get his lawyer

on the phone, but it's a Sunday and he doesn't answer. And a quick note here, the sergeant makes reference to his fellow officer possibly being recognizable from yesterday. And Alan Rixon, says he remembers her, but there's no further information about what it might be talking about. Could be anything. Just wanted to highlight that. Now at first, Ritchson seems kind of hesitant to answer any questions. In fact, this is according to the incident report too. They make note of that. But when the sergeant brings up the witness video, Ritchson says he also caught the whole thing on his cell phone, which had been strapped to his chest. Yeah. There's video of the incident, right? It doesn't show the whatever started it,

but it does show you beating, beating him up pretty good. Did he cut out the rest? This was from a, this was from a neighbor. I'm just letting you know there is. Did he cut out the part where he shoved me off the bike? So this isn't from him. This is from a third party way. Was it cut, though?

Was it edited? No. So you would have seen him shove me off my bike after I tried to leave peaceful. So I'm not accusing you of anything. I know, but I'm just saying. What have you seen though? Because if you didn't see that part, that doesn't make sense. So all I see is you meeting up on him in the grass, right?

You missed the rest. Which is why I'm here because it doesn't look good for you. And I want to figure out what happened before. I'll show you tap. Let's just watch you together. He needs to do a toxicology report. He smells like alcohol. Okay.

This is it. Yeah, is that your blood? Do you need medical attention? Yeah, it's on your elbow. No, no, really. Yeah, I felt pretty hard. He could sit right here. So let's take a look at what he apparently showed the police.

Are you fucking me, dude? You got to what, for what? For what? For what? For what? Staying in front of a bike again, dude. But doing what? Am I?

You threaten my, Safety, bro! Are you kidding me? I should not be the fuck out of now. Go ahead, not be out. Go ahead. I've called the BPD. I've called them already because you've been driving on this neighborhood like a

lunatic, rooting, this kid's riding around here. Go ahead. It's all on camera. Go ahead. Are you drunk right now, bro? Go ahead. Call the police. How do you, mind, dude?

Call the police. You're looking to knock you out, bro. Go ahead. Don't be out. Go ahead. I called the police. Unbelievable, dude. I called the police.

It's on camera. Why are you running like a . I should have run you over, dude. You did. You did. I'm in my house, taking my bike, you're driving around like a . I called the police.

Because you're driving around like a . And you what, I'm going to put an assault child of you. I'm going to put an assault child. So, you got out of you got a salt. That's a salt drug. You go. You know. You got to.

Go ahead. You got to get it. Stupid. That's a salt. That's a soul. Go ahead. Jesus Christ. Your assaulting me is all on camera.

So there is going to be a report taken for this, obviously. I mean, you're going to be a report taken for this, obviously. I mean, you're welcome to call your attorney. I'll give you the incident number so you have that. 2.50. Can you pull a case number if there hasn't been a one pool already? Like a toxicology report for 1-19? That's a part of this.

10-4. Sir, right? Him being drunk wouldn't have anything to do this? 10-4. We don't do toxicology reports for public in-tops, right? He's getting medically evaluated right now because he does have injuries. All this is going to be documented. The misdemeanor, whether a misdemeanor occurred is that if occurred outside of

of my presence both parties are separated so we're just going to document this take a report let the investigation play out do you think that's what so so in a situation like this with uh here earlier temple the situation like this which i'm sure looks bad for me but is self-defense and he's going to claim whatever he's obviously a liar he said i hit him on the bike call me a person's getting whatever he was obviously the aggressor here in my opinion What do I just sit and wait for or do I file something with my attorney or what happened? Like, what do I do to protect myself here? So, I mean, you've obviously, you've got the aggressive.

You've got the video stuff right there. So just submit that to us. We'll put that in the evidence log along with all the other witness information. And somebody watches everything that they have and they put it. Yeah, it goes to our detectives. Yeah. So they'll see all that. Yep.

And they make the determinations on their end. So that's our job. We come out here. We take the report. And again, there doesn't need to be an arrest made right now. if there is one that's going to be made because you guys are all separated. So I've got to collect all the evidence from everybody, get all the witness statements and stuff like that with my officers.

And that's what we're doing right now. That's why I wanted to come and talk to you. Because you've got a side of the story, right? Sure do. Like, even though he started the phone call to the police, I feel like he was aggressor, no self-defense. Obviously put his hands on me and push me off my bike. I needed to make sure myself and my kids were safe. Like, I think he should have to be fairing arrest right now.

So like, but how do I make that a part of this or like, will they determine based off this that actually he should be arrested? So we'll go based off all the evidence that we have that's going to be taken into account, obviously, the other video, which is consistent with what that shows. And then the witness statement is from people that saw. And that's what we take into account, right? And then his injuries, obviously. And there is some blood on your elbow. Do you have any cuts or anything like that? Yeah, I mean, I wiped out pretty hard.

At gym, my phone's super bad. Okay. Do you mind if I go grab my camera and take your picture of that? Okay, so now you have that video. But also the sergeant documents Richson's apparent injuries, quote, an abrasion on his right elbow that it bled through his shirt. And the actor claimed he had two jam thumbs, said he didn't need medical attention, though. He also says there's some damage to his bike, but he seemingly didn't want to have it documented at that point.

The only person endangering anybody here was this dude. The only aggressor was this dude. It only got unsafe in the environment of the neighborhood when he started to be an aggressor and jumping in front of bikes and pushing people off bikes. Like, why, like, I feel unsafe with him in the neighborhood right now. I feel unsafe with my kids going out in the neighborhood. Like, why doesn't he get arrested? 3.4. Did you call me? Well, like I said, the same thing for you is the same thing for him.

This is a misdemeanor that occurred outside of our presence. You guys are separated. So we're doing all the investigation and getting everything and then it's going to be reviewed. That's totally fine. It's totally fine. All right. I'm going to go upload these if you guys. just hang out with them. What happens? The incident was indeed reviewed by an investigative team,

and according to the incident report, a lieutenant had followed up with Alan Rixon and Ronnie Taylor two days later. Quote, on March 24th, 2026, Lieutenant Breedlove interviewed Rixon and photographed minor damage to his motorcycle. Ritchson's recollection of the March 22nd incident was consistent with his original written statement and his personal body worn camera video. Richson maintained that he acted in self-defense, stated he did not want to prosecute Taylor for causing the motorcycle crash, his own injuries due to the crash, or any damage to his motorcycle. On March 24, 26, Lieutenant Breedlove consulted with Deputy District Attorney Sean Duddy and Assistant District Attorney Lindsey Morland. Both agreed that Richson acted in self-defense and that Taylor could be held criminally liable for causing Richson's crash. After speaking with the district attorney's office, Lieutenant Breedlove spoke with Richson again.

Richson reiterated that he did not want to pursue or participate as a victim or witness in any criminal procedures. Lieutenant Breedlove told Richson the investigation would be closed without prosecution. On March 24th, 26, Lieutenant Breedlove spoke with Taylor about the incident. Taylor expressed regret and admitted he made mistakes on March 22nd. He stated he wanted the media coverage to end so he could return to his private life. Lieutenant Breedlove told Taylor the investigation would be closed without prosecution based on the reports, written statements, witness videos, crime scene, injury photos, and the totality of the circumstances, this investigation is closed by exception due to Richson declining to participate in prosecution.

Okay, this is not surprising. Okay, big actor wants to seemingly put this behind him. The video coming out, seemingly showing his side of the story, what more does he need to do here, right? from a PR point of view, he may feel that the videos that are coming out support his claim. He doesn't need to take this to the court of law. He doesn't need this to be prosecuted. And as you can see, there are multiple elements supporting this claim of self-defense, his claim of self-defense and not being the initial aggressor as Taylor was accused of jumping in front of him. And Taylor seemingly admitting that he made mistakes. And Alan Richson probably did not want this to go to trial and amplify this and how he

have this publicized and be cross-examined about his actions. And if you don't have a cooperative key witness, a cooperative alleged victim here, that's going to be tough for prosecutors. They don't really want to go forward. So you can chalk this up to a highly unfortunate incident. Thank goodness everyone appears to be somewhat okay. Moving on from this, I don't believe, based on what we just heard from law enforcement and the current status of this that, you know,

Ronnie Taylor is going to file some sort of lawsuit against Alan Rich. and seems unlikely. It seems that the evidence is pointing against him and law enforcement, their analysis is not helping him. And I'll just say, look, as a personal note, it's just sad that this happened. It was sad that's happened in front of kids. But authorities say, Richson was in the right, and I will tell you from point of law, doesn't this show the importance of having all the videotape in any investigation to get to the bottom of what seemingly happened, particularly in a self-defense case? We're taking. time matters, where details matter, because if there was no video and it was just Taylor's

word against Alan Ritchson, could get tricky. Could be a different kind of case. Now, in the days after all this and the days after, this altercation, Alan Ritchson posted an Instagram reel to celebrate wrapping up production of Reacher's latest season, saying, happy to be back in the booth after such a crazy week. That's a wrap from me on post-production, Reacher's season four. This is, without a doubt, the most gripping season. I think we hit our stride, firing on all cylinders, as it were.

There you have it, everybody. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to follow me, X Instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next time, everybody.