A Nashville bar owned by country singer Luke Bryan has denied overserving a missing 22-year-old college student and contradicted his friends’ claims that he was forced to leave alone when he was kicked out of the bar.
Riley Strain, a University of Missouri senior, was last seen around 10 p.m. March 8 after being escorted out of Luke’s 32 Bridge. Surveillance camera footage shared by the Nashville Metro Police Department and a local business show Strain walking unsteadily, running, and at one point hitting a pole and falling to the ground, where he lay briefly before struggling to get to his feet and continuing to walk. He appears to be holding his head after the fall.
Nashville Metro Police Department
Questions have been raised about why Strain, who was visiting the city with fraternity members for a private event, left the bar alone.
In an interview with People magazine on Wednesday, Christopher Whiteid, Strain’s stepfather, said he was told by his son’s friends that the bar’s security staff stopped them from leaving. “The bouncers wouldn’t let them out with him, that they were trying to get their bill paid,” he said.
Strain’s father, Ryan Gilbert, shared a similar account with WZTV in Nashville, saying his son’s friend told him he wasn’t able to accompany him outside because he was paying the bar tab.
“He was put out of the bar by himself and there was a time that went by that his friend wasn’t able to get out,” Gilbert said. “We believe they were taking care of their bar tab or whatnot. By the time they got outside, he just wasn’t there any longer.”
But the TC Restaurant Group, which owns and operates Luke’s 32 Bridge in partnership with the singer, said that information they collected and shared with the police tells a different story.
“During Riley’s visit to Luke’s 32 Bridge, our records show he…
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