NFL Player Charged With Beating Girlfriend Over Previous Ties to Nelly

Greg Hardy, a defensive lineman with the Carolina Panthers, was arrested on Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C., on assault charges. Hardy allegedly assaulted his girlfriend Nicole Holder, who also says he threatened to kill her, according to the Charlotte Observer. Holder stated that Hardy threw her on a on a couch covered with firearms. She also filed a temporary restraining order against the NFL player.

The warrant worksheet (pdf), obtained by the Charlotte Observer, says that Hardy “has been angry for a while now because of a short lived relationship with the entertainer Nelly while they were apart.” (The rapper is a part-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.) The worksheet also says that she and Hardy “had been trying to work things out” and that on Tuesday morning, “she was lying in bed with the defendant and he just snapped.”

CBS Sports reports that on Thursday a judge dismissed Holder’s restraining order because she failed to show up in court. But another judge who presided over the bond hearing stated that Hardy must now surrender all weapons and firearms.

CBS Sports obtained four different 911 calls made regarding the incident. During one call, Hardy told the operator that Holder was trying to hit him with a shoe. He went on to say that he was hit twice in the face. But a neighbor made another call saying that Hardy was "beating [Holder’s] ass."

A female voice is heard saying, “Domestic violence. Some girl’s getting her ass beat upstairs. And I heard it. And I seen it. He is beating her ass right the f—k now. So get here now. I was in the apartment. He's beating her ass.”

A third call was between the police officer and 911 dispatcher, and a fourth call was from another neighbor.

“He promised me my name wouldn’t be involved,” the caller said. “Because I’m seriously afraid of my neighbor. He’s a huge guy. He's 6-4 and 290 pounds. There were, like, eight guys right here outside my door. I was kind of afraid to say anything.”

The Carolina Panthers have not released a statement about the incident. 

Yesha Callahan is editor of The Grapevine and a staff writer at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.