Charges against country music star Chris Young were dismissed on Friday after a review of evidence in an interaction between the musician and a state alcohol agent Monday night, the Nashville district attorney said.
Young, 38, was arrested Monday night and booked on charges of assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct after an interaction between him and a Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent who was conducting compliance checks at bars near the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
“After a review of all the evidence in this case, the Office of the District Attorney has determined that these charges will be dismissed,” District Attorney Glenn Funk said in a statement Friday.
No further details were provided.
Young’s attorney, Bill Ramsey, said in a statement Friday, “Mr. Young and I are gratified with the DA’s decision clearing him of the charges and any wrong-doing.”
According to a Davidson County affidavit filed in conjunction with the charges, an alcohol commission agent said Young and his friends followed agents from one bar to a second, where Young put his hands out to stop the agent from leaving and struck him on the shoulder.
In response, the agent said he pushed Young “to create some distance,” bar patrons got up and started yelling, and the agents physically detained Young, the affidavits alleged.
He was booked into jail and released about three hours later, according to court records.
Bar security video, shared with NBC News by a representative for Young, appears to show a man in a baseball cap hold out his arm in front of another man as he walks by and touch him on the shoulder. The man who was touched appears to shove the man in the cap, who stumbles backward onto a chair and falls to the ground, and other patrons get up.
It’s unclear what happened before and after the four video clips.
Ramsey said in a statement after Young’s arrest that his client “never should have been arrested and charged in the first place” and cited video evidence as reason to drop the charges.
He called on the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission to apologize “for the physical, emotional and professional harm done towards my client.”
The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission said in a statement Monday that it respects the district attorney's decision.
"All law enforcement and first responders deserve to be safe while on duty," Aaron Rummage, the commission's director of legislation, policy, and communication said in the statement. "For your safety and theirs, we ask the public to not make physical contact or interfere with officers while they are working."
On Monday, Young wrote a post on Facebook touting the March 22 release of his next album, “Young Love & Saturday Nights.” The Grammy-nominated artist burst on the scene in 2006 when he won the fourth edition of the television talent-search series “Nashville Star” at age 20.
