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Ex-Rutgers Football Player Fractured Woman's Skull in Tennessee, Waited 48 Minutes to Call for Help: Warrant

What to Know

  • Former Rutgers football player Nadir Barnwell was charged with attempted homicide for an attack in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday
  • A warrant alleges he was caught on camera grabbing a woman by the throat and dropping her; he didn't call for help for 48 minutes
  • Barnwell transferred to Tennessee Tech after a troubled tenure with the Scarlet Knights that included an arrest and an NCAA scandal

A troubled former Rutgers football player fractured a woman's skull in a domestic attack in Tennessee earlier this week, then waited nearly an hour to call for help, according to court documents. 

Nadir Barnwell, a New Jersey native who transferred to Tennessee Tech last year, was charged with attempted homicide after the attack on a footbridge in midtown Nashville early on Monday, according to a warrant for his arrest. 

According to the warrant, Barnwell -- who had blood on him --  told responding medics that the woman was drunk and had fallen while he was attempting to carry her.

But surveillance footage from the scene told a different story, according to the document. Video captured at 2:51 a.m. allegedly showed the woman sitting on a bench as a shirtless and agitated Barnwell paced back and forth. At one point, the document states, the footballer could be seen picking her up, grabbing her by the throat and shaking her head. 

Then, according to the warrant, he releases his grip and lets her fall; her head bounces off the ground. Barnwell then allegedly makes a phone call and tries to revive her. But when she doesn't come to, he picks her up and walks out of the surveillance camera's frame. 

The warrant states that he didn't call for help until 3:39 a.m., 48 minutes after the altercation began. 

Doctors treating the woman told detectives the woman had to undergo surgery to stop bleeding to her brain, according to the warrant. She also fractured her skull and may have broken her right arm. 

Barnwell allegedly told police he did not remember the episode, according to the warrant. 

The former 4-star recruit out of Piscataway Township High School left Rutgers in 2016 after a troubled tenure at the university under former coach Kyle Flood.

The 22-year-old cornerback was one of several players charged in an unprovoked attack that left another student with a broken jaw. He pleaded guilty in the case and was given a pre-trial intervention with a chance to wipe the charges, according to NJ.com

He was also the player at the center of an NCAA investigation over whether Flood had improperly contacted a professor to help have grades improved. The university suspended Flood for three games in what became his final season with the team over the contact. 

Attorney information for Barnwell wasn't immediately available. 

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