Jerry Brown, a member of the Dallas Cowboys, died early Saturday morning, reports the Hamilton Spectator. He was in a car being driven by Josh Brent. Brent was speeding and the car hit a curb. The car rolled nine times before coming to a stop upside down. Brent dragged Brown from the flaming vehicle. Brown was pronounced dead at a local hospital, while Brent suffered minor injuries. Brent was arrested on site for intoxication manslaughter as he failed a sobriety test. Jerry Brown had just been signed to the Dallas Cowboys practice squad and had also just found out he was expecting a baby.
Brent was released from jail on Sunday on a $500,000 bond. According to reports, his attorney complained that the bond was at least “16 times higher than it would have been for anybody that doesn’t play for the Dallas Cowboys.”
While this is a horrible tragedy, it makes me angry more than anything. These two young men knew better. Reports say that they were out drinking at a club and still chose to drive. Brent especially knew better. Brent has a prior record for drinking and driving. In 2009 he was sentenced to 60 days in jail among other court order sanctions. Apparently those 60 days in a jail cell and the 200 hours of community service did nothing to steer Brent away from drinking and driving.
The fact that Brent is 320 pounds also begs the question of how much exactly this man needs to drink to get drunk. He must have had close to twenty drinks. While we will not find out his blood alcohol level for several weeks, I seriously doubt this was a situation where he was slightly over the limit. He consciously made the decision to drink and drive.
Drinking and driving incidents are the highest legal issue that the NFL deals with. Yet the league continues to do nothing to try and curb this behaviour. The league is in a position of power and needs to step up. This could be as simple as raising DUI penalties for NFL players or adding prolonged suspensions.
Goodell is busy proposing eliminating kickoffs while another person dies because of NFL players drinking and driving.
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