Hayden Panettiere’s abusive ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother detained after restaurant brawl

The on-again, off-again boyfriend of late Hollywood star Hayden Panettiere has been detained by police alongside his brother just under a month after the actress’s death .

Police attended a restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina, after receiving reports of an “altercation” about 9.10pm on Saturday, local time.

A number of patrons were detained by police, including Panettiere’s ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach.

“During the investigation, officers determined that Zach was highly intoxicated,” a spokesperson for the Greenville Police Department (GPD) told 7NEWS.com.au.

“He began yelling profanities in a public setting, and as a result, he was taken into custody for disorderly conduct and transported to the Greenville County Detention Centre.”

Brian was only briefly detained but was released by police at the scene.

Footage obtained by TMZ shows Brian being carried out of the restaurant while in an argument with other patrons.

He was then filmed handcuffed and surrounded by several police officers outside the venue with what appears to be blood on his face.

“GPD leaked it when my girlfriend died,” he yelled while being detained.

Local police said Brian was not arrested and was released soon after, while Zach was allegedly highly intoxicated and was swearing, which led to him being arrested, TMZ reports.

Zach was the one who discovered Panettiere’s body at a Greenville home on August 16 and told the outlet he had administered naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, which reverses the effects of opioid overdoses.

Despite the best efforts from paramedics, Panettiere died at the scene at the age of 36.

Panettiere’s romantic relationship with Hickerson, an aspiring actor from South Carolina, appeared to end in 2020 amid allegations of domestic violence.

She wrote about some of those experiences in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which was published three months before she died.