Nashville Police Investigate Rex Ryan After Bar Scuffle

NASHVILLE, TN — Metro Police are investigating an assault complaint against former Buffalo Bills and New York Jets coach Rex Ryan made by a Colorado man, the department's spokesperson confirmed to WKRN.

Matthew Havel, 30, of Pueblo, Colorado, told police that Ryan attacked him unprovoked and "reached across and grabbed at his neck" during a scuffle at Margaritaville on Broadway, memorialized in a video that has since gone viral. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

Metro Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron told Channel 2 the investigation is ongoing but no charges are outstanding.

Havel told Bleacher Report he had been sitting with Rex Ryan, his brother Rob, Rob's son Matt and others for an extended period of time before the altercation.

"We didn't say anything like, 'You guys are bad coaches.' We were sitting there for an hour, hour-and-a-half, talking, and then it wasn't with them, it was with the son and the nephew," Havel told Bleacher Report. "Then we had pictures of Matthew's championship ring on my wife's hand. You don't let that out of your hand for anybody."

However, sources also told Bleacher Report that Rex Ryan was getting annoyed by "heckling" from "uninvited guests" and was trying to "keep the peace."

ESPN is also investigating the incident, as Rex Ryan is now a commentator on Sunday Night Football.

Image via Wikimedia Commons user BellaMeghan, used under Creative Commons