Hayden Panettiere’s former boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson, were present at the South Carolina apartment complex where the ‘Heroes’ actor suffered cardiac arrest and passed away on Sunday. This was detailed in a police incident report obtained by NBC News.
The heavily redacted report from the Greenville Police Department indicated that both the Hickerson brothers were inside Judson Mill Lofts when the incident occurred. Officer Matthew Bryan, the responding officer, first spoke to Zach Hickerson, who appeared ‘very emotional’ while emergency medical services worked on Panettiere. The report noted that Brian Hickerson exhibited emotion only after EMS declared the 36-year-old actor deceased.
Brian Hickerson also presented police with a ‘bag of medication’ that Panettiere was taking at the time of her death, as mentioned in the report. Officer Bryan stated his body camera captured the entire emergency response, though the video has not been released publicly.
A statement from the Greenville County Coroner’s Office revealed that Panettiere’s cause of death remains under investigation. An autopsy conducted on Monday found no signs of trauma contributing to her death. Authorities received a 911 call around 1:50 p.m. on Sunday regarding cardiac arrest at the apartment complex. According to the coroner’s office, an acquaintance of Panettiere made the call. Panettiere was discovered unresponsive and, despite efforts from first responders, was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m.
Panettiere’s relationship with Brian Hickerson ended in 2020 amidst allegations of domestic violence. Her memoir, ‘This Is Me: A Reckoning,’ published three months before her death, detailed some of these experiences. In her writings, Panettiere described an assault by Hickerson that left her unable to leave her house for weeks and confessed her reluctance to report the abuse out of fear of public exposure.
Hickerson faced arrest on May 2, 2019, for allegations of injuring a spouse or girlfriend, according to Los Angeles County court records. He pleaded no contest on April 20, 2021, receiving a sentence of four years of probation the following year. While Panettiere requested a restraining order against Hickerson on July 14, 2020, the court docket reviewed by NBC News did not specify the outcome of this request or identify the victim. In 2020, Panettiere issued a statement sharing her story to encourage others in similar situations to seek help and vowed to ensure Hickerson could not harm anyone else.
Panettiere was widely recognized for her roles in television shows like NBC’s ‘Heroes,’ where she played a high school cheerleader with special powers, and ABC’s ‘Nashville,’ as a country music star.