He was filmed brawling with a neighbor outside his home, but TV star Alan Ritchson was in a much calmer mood by Monday afternoon.
Shocking video emerged on Sunday of the 6ft 3in Reacher actor beating his neighbor Ronnie Taylor after being confronted about his loud motorcycle.
Witnesses came to the Hollywood tough guy’s defense, claiming Taylor instigated the fracas in their quiet neighborhood in Brentwood, Tennessee, but Ritchson wasn’t keen to give his side of the story when contacted hours later.
He answered the Daily Mail’s call casually. And unlike many celebrities, Ritchson remained on the phone even after realizing he was talking to a reporter and was exceptionally polite.
‘I can’t answer questions about that right now, there’s an active investigation,’ he said, calmly and apologetically.
The investigation to which Ritchson, 43, was referring was a probe into the brawl, which began about 1.50pm on Sunday, by the local Brentwood Police Department.
‘There is an active investigation, and no arrests have been made. There will be a police report available when the investigation has concluded,’ it told the Daily Mail.
Taylor and Ritchson brawled on the grass and hedges over the road from Taylor’s $2.7 million five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home.
‘Reacher’ Alan Ritchson allegedly beat up Tennessee neighbor
Ritchson, 43, towered over his neighbor Ronnie Taylor as he landed a flurry of blows, including while Taylor was on the ground
For his part, Taylor told the Daily Mail that he would ‘hardly call it a fight’ and declined to respond to claims he started the brawl.
‘I did not know who he was or care. I only found out after the incident,’ he said.
Their neighborhood is on the quiet outskirts of Brentwood, a Nashville satellite town about 16 miles from the country music mecca’s famous downtown.
Ritchson returned to the US from filming upcoming movie Runner in Australia only a few days before the brawl, and complained in three bizarre Instagram videos about how tired and jetlagged he was.
How much time Ritchson and his family spend in the Tennessee town is unclear as he and his wife Catherine, 42, sold their home in Florida in 2023, saying they would live out of hotels and Airbnbs wherever his projects are filming.
‘It was very shocking to watch. My 12-year-old son was watching the whole thing,’ another neighbor who witnessed the brawl told the Daily Mail.
‘We knew [who he was] after the fact. We knew after the incident. We had a group [meeting] – we pulled out a surveillance video from our camera and one of the neighbors was recording the incident.’
The video showed Ritchson – who has previously spoken about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder – striking Taylor on the ground several times.
Taylor told TMZ that the issue began on Saturday when Ritchson was riding his very loud, green Kawasaki bike through their quiet neighborhood.
He claimed the actor was going at an excessive speed, as well as revving his engine and disturbing the peace.
Ritchson, who plays Jack Reacher on the Amazon Prime series, declined to comment when contacted on Monday
Ronnie Taylor claimed Ritchson attacked him when confronted about his loud motorcycle
Taylor, also an experienced motorcyclist who’s been riding them ‘all his life,’ said he flipped Ritchson off, and the actor responded in kind.
The following day, Ritchson rode through the neighborhood again at around noon – this time with two of his children on their own bikes – and was allegedly speeding. Ritchson and Catherine have three sons: Calem, 13, Edan, 12, and Amory, 10.
Taylor said he was cleaning his own bike outside his house and asked Ritchson, ‘Can you f**king stop this please,’ which is when the situation escalated.
‘You’ve got to stop, someone’s going to get hurt,’ Taylor said he told Ritchson.
Taylor claimed he reported to police that Ritchson punched him in the face and kicked him. He also claimed Ritchson hit him ‘at least four times’ and in the back of the head, causing bruises and swelling, but he did not go to hospital.
‘I’ve had such a s**tty day today, I don’t wish the guy any malice or ill will but we just don’t need people riding through neighborhoods like this and I decided I’d take a stand because someone had to,’ he told TMZ.
In the video, shot by a neighbor through their window, Ritchson picked up his helmet off the ground and grabbed his bike after beating Taylor. He then lost control of the bike, which veered onto the lawn. Meanwhile, Taylor picked something off the ground and walked up to Ritchson, and then away again.
Ritchson got back on his bike and drove off, followed by the two children.
However, sources close to the actor gave a very different account of what sparked the brawl before the camera started rolling.
They told TMZ he did not instigate the fight with his neighbor and was ‘pushed off his bike twice’ by Taylor before the fight.
Witnesses saw Ritchson riding his motorcycle down the street ahead of his two sons on their mini-bikes on Sunday afternoon, the sources said. Taylor saw, and heard, the bikes and ‘bolted into the street to try to stop Alan’s bike in a really aggressive manner,’ the sources claimed.
Ritchson is said to have fallen off his motorbike and suffered cuts and bruises as well as a minor injury to his finger.
Taylor is alleged to have ‘dared’ Ritchson to hit him while ‘yelling’ at the actor – who was still on the ground. The sources alleged Ritchson tried to leave but was shoved to the ground by Taylor, provoking him into repeatedly punching the neighbor as seen in the video.
Taylor claimed he pushed him because Ritchson was riding towards him on his bike, and when the actor did it a second time, he pushed him again.
‘The second time he got off his bike and kicked the crap out of me,’ Taylor claimed.
Ritchson has been ‘cooperative with the police and nobody has been arrested,’ according to those close to him.
Taylor is also an experienced motorcyclist who’s been riding them ‘all his life’ and was cleaning his bike outside his house when the brawl began
Taylor’s house, across the road from where the brawl took place
Reacher, based on the hit thriller novels by British author Lee Child, was renewed for a fourth season in October 2024, before the third one was even released, and is scheduled for late this year.
Ritchson’s other television credits include Smallville, Blue Mountain State, Blood Drive and Titans.
He appeared in the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot and its 2016 sequel, and in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in 2013 and Fast X in 2023.
Ritchson revealed in 2024 that he attempted suicide in 2019, and said a vision of his sons convinced him to continue living. After the suicide attempt, he sought help from a doctor who diagnosed him with bipolar disorder.
During an interview, Ritchson also claimed he had been sexually assaulted while working in the modeling industry.
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