When Dez Bryant left his home on Sunday afternoon, little did he know he would end up handcuffed in a Southlake parking lot. Hours later, the wide receiver took to social media to tell his side of the story.
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“There’s only one real victim here…and that’s me. I don’t understand how anyone could say I followed them when I was already in the right lane…heading to Chiloso,” Bryant wrote on X.
“The young adult was to my right, and his friend was behind me just before we went through the light. As soon as the light turned green, he hit the gas and cut right in front of me. I wasn’t upset… But when I turned right into Chiloso, his buddy hit the brakes and stopped his car. The friend who had been behind me sped around me to get in front of him. The guy who later said he would shoot me got out of the car, apparently to mess with his friend.”
Later, in the Chiloso parking lot, Bryant confronted the two men, asking them to drive more safely. That’s when the former receiver thought one of the two had a weapon.
“He said, ‘I got something for you,’ and went back to his car as if he were about to get a gun. I told him, ‘If you pull that gun, you better use it, because otherwise I’m about to beat your a**,’” Bryant said.
One of them pulled out a phone, not a gun, to record the incident, a fact Bryant acknowledged. Bryant knocked the phone out of his hand. A video of Bryant threatening the teen while knocking the phone out of his hand also went viral on social media.
“You don’t think I know who I am around here? I’m not playing with you. You think I give a f— about that law? No I don’t. Not at all. Because we’re going to get them cameras and see who looks like an idiot,” he said in the video.
When an officer arrived at the scene, he ordered all three men to get on the ground. Footage posted by OutKick on X shows the men handcuffed and lying face down in the parking lot as officers stand nearby. Bryant alleged that a gun was pointed his way.
“As soon as the officers arrived, the young adult and I were talking trash back and forth. I don’t understand why the officer got out of the car and pointed a rifle directly at me. A lot of y’all need to use your brains… Why would I follow them? They’re not important to me. Stay tuned..my team and I are going to get to the bottom of this,” he wrote.
The incident itself was worrying for Bryant, as he later told OutKick. “I was really more so concerned about my children, you know, looking at their dad, you know, being on the ground with a gun pointed at me.”
Bryant knows just how devastating legal trouble can be. Standing in a penitentiary at the age of 8, waiting for hours to meet his mom, Bryant had a realization. “Even as a kid, I knew right then and there… something’s got to be different… I’m going to put that on me to figure something out.”
That’s why, for over a decade, Bryant has steered clear of any trouble, focusing on being a present father. After the altercation on Sunday, he was handcuffed in front of his children.
Bryant’s statement said an investigation will be conducted by his team into the matter. Bryant requested police take all parties to the station for investigation, though only he was cited who was cited for assault by contact, a Class C misdemeanor. It carries a fine of up to $500 under Texas law, and while Bryant can pay the fine, doing so would also mean pleading guilty.
But that’s not the only reason Bryant may want an investigation. Noah Reyes, one of the two men involved in the altercation with Bryant, confirmed to the California Post that he intends to sue Bryant when he and Terrance Avery, the other man involved, recounted the incident.
According to Avery, they were driving through Southlake on Sunday afternoon to get lunch, occasionally honking at each other, when they came across an Escalade.
“We had to get into the right lane, which Dez was in, but keep in mind if we’re gassing at the light, we had plenty of space to get in front of him to get over,” he said. “He then proceeds to follow us all the way in here, down the hill to Chiloso.”
Reyes said he stopped his vehicle near the restaurant off East Southlake Boulevard, while Bryant continued pursuing Avery.
“Dez parked up on the curb,” Avery said. “He’s talking mess to me before I can even park my car. I got out the car, telling my girlfriend. I opened her door, and that’s when Noah starts to drive by.”
The incident is the most recent bit of legal trouble the former Cowboys receiver has faced. In April 2011, he was sued by two jewelers who claimed he didn’t pay for custom jewelry and tickets to sporting events totaling almost $575,000.
Bryant’s legal troubles continued in July 2012, when he was arrested on a Class A misdemeanor domestic violence charge stemming from an incident in DeSoto in which he allegedly slapped his mother, Angela. That charge was later conditionally dismissed after he completed a year of anger management.