Alan Ritchson has broken his silence over his physical altercation with his neighbour earlier this year.
Video footage published by TMZ in March appeared to show the Reacher star getting into a street brawl with his neighbour Ronnie Taylor after Taylor confronted him about driving through a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee with his sons on motorcycles.
Local police subsequently concluded that Ritchson acted in self-defence and closed the case after he declined to press charges.
Breaking his silence about the incident on Monday's episode of the Armchair Expert podcast, the Smallville actor admitted he initially thought the video would ruin his career.
"It was the scariest thing I've ever been through. I don't like that kind of conflict. I like to work. I don't like things that are ill-gotten. I don't like bad press," Ritchson said.
He also denied Taylor's claim that they had discussed his motorcycle use the day before the brawl.
"I've never met that guy ever in my life. Never seen him before. He lied to TMZ about (saying) the day before, 'Hey, buddy. You should really slow down.' None of that was true," he insisted, adding that he was "hardly moving" when a "heated" Taylor came into the street.
He alleged the viral video footage only showed "the last 10 seconds" of the incident. Before then, Taylor allegedly "stepped in front of him" and used two hands to shove him off his bike.
"Me and the bike go to the ground," he continued. "(I thought,) 'I've got to protect me and I've got to protect my kids and I've got to get us off the street safely and that means getting him out of the picture, right? So I hit the guy."
The 43-year-old also expressed gratitude that he wore a body camera for the first time that day, as he could show the police the altercation from his perspective.
"If I hadn't had that, dude, I'd probably still be in jail. The cops came to arrest me that day and only had (a recording from Taylor) to go off of," he added. "(My video) changed the course of my life forever."
Ritchson also admitted that he still harbours "so much anger" and "so much resentment" towards Taylor that he is struggling to let go of because his bike is still broken and his sons won't ride with him anymore.
