Charges Upgraded Against Nashville Bar Security Guard Accused of Deadly Assault on Patron Waiting for Uber

Mar. 15, 2025

Austin Turner (left); and Richard Cornelius.Photo:Courtesy of Meagan Turner; Metropolitan Nashville Police Department

Courtesy of Meagan Turner; Metropolitan Nashville Police Department

A Tennessee security guard arrested in March and accused of punching a man to death is now facing an upgraded charge.

Richard Cornelius, 36, was arrested on March 1 and charged with aggravated assault, per Davidson County online court records.

Cornelius, who has since been released on bond, is now facing an upgraded charge of aggravated assault resulting in death, an updated online court record shows.

Ben Powers, Cornelius' attorney, previously said in a statement to PEOPLE: “Mr. Cornelius isinnocent of the allegations in the criminal charge against him. And we are eager to have our day in court so we can address the misrepresentations surrounding the night in question. However, we are reserving any further statements for our day in court.”

Powers now notes to PEOPLE that his client plans on entering a plea of not guilty and claiming self-defense, adding that “there’s more to the story.”

Austin Turner.Gofundme

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Security footage of the incident reportedly captured Cornelius allegedlyswinging several times before he hit Turner, WSMV reported at the time, citing police.

MNPD authorities previously said Cornelius allegedly struck Turner “causing him to fall to the ground unconscious."

Turner’s family told PEOPLE in March that he was with his friends at the Tin Roof baron the night of the incidentand after they left the bar, witnesses said, he attempted to go back in.

“We are assuming his phone died and he was seeking a way to charge his cell phone,” his stepmother Meagan Turner said, adding that his Uber order never went through.

He was reportedly not allowed back in, per witnesses, and after getting pushed out of the entrance, he began walking away, Meagan said.

“He was not trying to fight anybody, he was walking away from the entryway without any kind of aggression or anything,” she added.

The witnesses then reportedly saw a man they thought to be the bouncer run out towards Austin, “swinging wildly and then connected with Austin’s head," Meagan noted.

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“He was out cold, and they said that the sound that they heard when he was struck … It was very disturbing, and they knew it was bad,” she said.

“They 100 percent claim that Austin’s back was turned the entire time in this incident,” Austin’s father, Joshua Turner, told PEOPLE at the time.

He later suffered five additional strokes, the family said, beforehe eventually died on March 7. He turned 26while he was in a coma, WSMV reported at the time.

Cornelius is set to be arraigned in court in September, per online court records.

source: people.com