Ex-Rutgers Footballer Choked Woman On Nashville Bridge: Police

NASHVILLE, TN -- A former Tennessee Tech and Rutgers football player choked and dropped a woman on a downtown pedestrian bridge in the wee hours of Monday morning, according to Metro Police.

Investigators say surveillance footage shows Nadir Barnwell, 22, walking across the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, which connects Nissan Stadium to downtown, around 3 a.m. Monday. Footage allegedly shows Barnwell grabbing the woman by the throat and shaking her head before dropping her to the ground causing her head to bounce off the pavement.

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Barnwell reportedly told investigators the woman was drunk and she fell while he was carrying her.

Another surveillance video allegedly shows Barnwell attempting to make a phone call and trying to wake the woman up before carrying her away and calling 911 at 3:40 a.m.

The woman is hospitalized with a skull fracture and bleeding on the brain, police said.

Barnwell was a walk-on on the Tennessee Tech football team, though has not been associated with the Golden Eagles program since November and graduated from Tech Saturday. He was previously played cornerback at Rutgers, but the Piscataway, N.J. native transferred after a highly-publicized street fight over a parking space in 2015. He was accepted into a pre-trial diversion program after that fight and was given a second chance at keeping his record clean despite failing a drug test.

Barnwell allegedly told police he doesn't remember what happened on the Nashville bridge. He is charged with attempted criminal homicide.

Image via Metro Nashville Police