Hayden Panettiere's boyfriend Brian Hickerson faces felony charges after domestic violence incident

Hayden Panettiere’s boyfriend Brian Hickerson faces felon charges stemming from a physical altercation with the actress in May, according to RadarOnline.

The 30-year-old — who is out on $50,000 bond — appeared in a Los Angeles Superior Court room on Wednesday where a judge ruled there’s sufficient evidence to charge him with a felony following the domestic violence incident.

Panettiere reportedly sustained injuries from the violent episode where ‘he hit her on the face, causing her to get dizzy,’ the prosecutor said during his arraignment. 

Trouble: Hayden Panettiere’s boyfriend Brian Hickerson faces felon charges stemming from a physical altercation with the actress in May, according to RadarOnline; seen in December

Hickerson pleaded not guilty to the charge from the May 2 incident.

Officer Amber Findley testified that she responded to a call at around 1:45 a.m. and recalled hearing a female voice say ‘Ow, ow, ow! You’re hurting me!’ as she approached the house.

Brian answered the door and ‘initially said he was alone with his dogs’ and that the female voice was likely the television.

Upon further inspection, Findley and another officer found a ‘bruised and swollen’ Panettiere in an upstairs bedroom. 

Not great: Hayden revealed that she and Brian had been drinking at a dive bar in Hollywood earlier in the night before they returned home and an argument broke out at the front door; seen in January

‘Right off the bat, I noticed that she had bruising on her eyelids, a swollen face,’ Findley said. ‘She did have marks on her neck, the left side. When I continued to talk to her she removed the sweater that she had on. I saw bruising on both her arms.’

Hayden revealed that she and Brian had been drinking at a dive bar in Hollywood earlier in the night before they returned home and an argument broke out at the front door.

He reportedly ‘struck her three times on the face with an open palm’ and the third hit ’caused her nose to bleed.’

She allegedly ‘went upstairs’ to sleep before ‘the defendant got on top of her and with hands grabbed her on the left and right side of her face.’

Unique: Panettiere was first spotted with Brian in August 2018, barefoot walking through a parking lot in Los Angeles

‘The victim described the altercation as they began to grapple,’ Findley testified. ‘He was on top of her and grabbed her face, I believe by the hair. They began to grapple and then she extended her arm outwards to gain distance.’

The officer also testified that Hayden admitted her boyfriend had ‘harmed her’ the day before when they were in Puerto Rico. 

Defense attorney Robert Hancock argued that grappling ‘usually implies a mutual combat between two parties’ as he argued to dismiss the charge.

He revealed that both Hickerson and Panettiere ‘had been drinking’ before the violent offense. 

‘That’s not going to fly today,’ Judge David Fields told Hancock before denying the motion to dismiss the criminal charge. 

If convicted of the felony charge, Hickerson faces a maximum of four years in state prison, Deputy District Attorney Lisa Kassabian said. 

Panettiere was first spotted with Brian in August 2018, and reports shortly followed that she split with fiance Wladimir Klitschko after nine years of dating and one daughter, Kaya. 

In the past: She split with fiance Wladimir Klitschko in 2018 after nine years of dating and one daughter, Kaya; seen in 2013