Smyrna man recounts security altercation inside Whiskey Row

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A Smyrna man said he couldn’t breathe when security guards at Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row forced him and his friend to the ground and held him there at the Broadway establishment last month.

Metro Police said Dallas Jordan Barrett died at Vanderbilt University Medical center that night.

The reason we know two people were restrained by security that night is because of video News4 first reported last week, recorded by a bystander one month ago.

In the video, Barrett’s family said security guards restrain two people: Barrett and his friend Bradyn Anderson. It’s hard to see, but Anderson said he remembers what happened.

“This video started five, 10 minutes in it,” Anderson said.

He said he’s not sure why, but he, Barrett and two others walked into the bar a couple of minutes before they were forced to the ground.

“I just happened to hear a commotion behind me and distinctively turned around and of course there’s people grabbing DJ and I get in the middle of it,” Anderson said. “I’m pulling people off him, you know what I’m saying? Trying to calm things down. There’s no punches thrown, nothing like that.”

Anderson said he got forced down by security for pulling people off Barrett.

“They had some knees on me, maybe some elbows,” Anderson said. “They had their hands on my legs, just arms, telling me to stop fighting, stop fighting, don’t fight.”

When asked whether he was fighting, Anderson responded, “Of course, I was trying to get to DJ.”

Anderson said he was trying to get to Barrett because, “I just had a weird feeling.”

Anderson said it wasn’t only employees holding him and Barrett down.

“There was one person in a blue shirt,” Anderson said. “A Caucasian male, he had put his knee on my back, and he had a drink in his hand.”

Anderson said the altercation lasted 10 to 15 minutes. He recalls five security guards on him, but he said twice that many were on Barrett.

“I couldn’t breathe, so I know DJ couldn’t breathe,” Anderson said.

At one point in the video, Anderson said he could hear Barrett cry for air.

“Fought all the way up and got close,” Anderson said. “Just kept fighting.”

Anderson said after the scene in the video, police took him away and he didn’t see Barrett after that.

News4 reached out to Riot Hospitality Group, the media relations agency for Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row. They said since this is an ongoing investigation that are referring all questions to Metro Police.