Uber driver screams ex-Titan 'bit me' in frantic 911 call

A man's voice, breathing heavily and crying for help, crackled through the 911 dispatch line at 8:45 p.m.

“I drove them, he’s drunk. He’s trying to attack me right now,” Nashville resident Girma Berkess told a Metro Nashville dispatcher on April 14. 

The Uber driver had just picked up former Tennessee Titans lineman and Memphis native Michael Oher from his Brentwood home after he requested a ride to a Nashville comedy club. 

For the next 12 minutes, the caller relayed a panicked and detailed account of the alleged attack.

"He's drunk ... he's trying to attack me now ... he's about to hit me," Berkess says during the frantic call.

"OK, where are you at?" the dispatcher asks.

The caller screams. 

"I'm (being) attacked right now. He just attacked me!"

"OK, where are you?" the dispatcher yells.

"I'm at Wedgewood and Eighth Avenue," he said.

"He bit me," Berkess says, out of breath. "My back."

"Do you need an ambulance?" the dispatcher quickly asks.

"I need a cop right now," he says repeatedly. "I think he's a Titans player."

Eventually Berkess tells the dispatcher his customer has exited the black GMC Yukon XL and fled with five other people.

"We’ll get them out there to you, OK? If he comes back, you call us," the dispatcher says shortly before Metro police arrive.

Oher, whose journey to the NFL is recounted in the book and film "The Blind Side," would later be arrested in connection to the reported attack.

Police said Oher pushed and kicked the Uber driver in an apparent dispute over the fare. A lawsuit filed this week in Davidson County Circuit Court claims Oher was drunk when entered the car.

It goes on to claim Oher asked him to follow his wife’s car, but the driver lost the car in traffic. This “enraged” Oher.

“In (Oher’s) rage, he called (the driver) a derogatory homophobic term several times and threatened the (driver) with physical violence," the suit continues. "(Oher) then ordered the (driver) to pull over at a Mapco gas station so (Oher) and his friends could urinate.”

Oher was slated to appear Friday morning for a hearing in connection with the assault charge, but the hearing was postponed mid-morning to Oct. 31.

Attorneys on both sides, including his defense lawyer, Roger May of Nashville, said the hearing was continued for "further discussions." Neither side would elaborate on what that meant.

Oher, who has been in the NFL's concussion protocol since September, was released from the Carolina Panthers on Thursday with a failed physical designation.

Oher played for the Titans in 2014, before the Titans released him less than one year into a four-year contract. He played his first five NFL seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.

Natalie Allison contributed to this report. Reach Natalie Alund at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.