Cowboys Josh Brent charged with manslaughter

drtooth

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From the Twitter off Matt Barrie, NBC News 5 out of Dallas

Can confirm #Cowboys Josh Brent was booked for intoxication and manslaughter. Jason Garrett addressed the team privately on plane.
Can confirm, Josh Brent was driving the car involved in a fatal accident that killed Jerry Brown Jr. PD believes alcohol was factor.
Edit: Jerry Brown was a DT for the Cowboys.
 

johnmd20

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Tough year for the NFL, off the field, dating back to Junior's suicide.
Yeah, but this blows that out of the water. A week ago, an NFL player killed someone and then killed himself. Today, an NFL player killed someone and almost killed himself. I mean, that is an unprecedented short term spree of mayhem and destruction.
 

findguapo

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Tough year for the NFL, off the field, dating back to Junior's suicide.
Tough 3 years for the NFL, dating back to Air McNair getting shot, Chris Henry falling off a truck, and Kenny McKinley, Dave Duerson, and Ray Easterling killing themselves.
 

dcmissle

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Very dumb.

But will tomorrow night bring a disquisition on the restoration of Prohibition, compulsory use of mass transit or, at the very least, massive tort liability that should be visited on auto manufacturers who have yet to install ignition locks?

Many people are awfully stupid, which is the thrust of a pretty good auto insurance ad. Some things just are.
 

bowiac

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I'd say we're about 36 hours from the thrust of this being about whether repeated head trauma is causing NFL players to drink and drive.
 

Mystic Merlin

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I'd say we're about 36 hours from the thrust of this being about whether repeated head trauma is causing NFL players to drink and drive.
Costas and King are already composing missives. It'll be a major upset if it takes till early Monday for that narrative to take root somewhere.
 

Boston Brawler

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I'll never understand why a guy earning an average of 450 grand per year can't hire a driver for a night out.
 

Darnell's Son

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I'll never understand why a guy earning an average of 450 grand per year can't hire a driver for a night out.
The worst part is that the NFL(or the teams themselves) have car services set up in every NFL city that is free and anonymous. You just call the number the team gave you and they take you home.
 

Adrian's Dome

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[quote name='Darnell's Son' timestamp='1355000727' post='4452791']
The worst part is that the NFL(or the teams themselves) have car services set up in every NFL city that is free and anonymous. You just call the number the team gave you and they take you home.
[/quote]

Wait a sec, you know this for sure? If so, holy shit.

Not that players who make that kind of money ever have an excuse for not having a ride, but that just takes it into a whole other stratosphere.
 
[quote name='Darnell's Son' timestamp='1355000727' post='4452791']
The worst part is that the NFL(or the teams themselves) have car services set up in every NFL city that is free and anonymous. You just call the number the team gave you and they take you home.
[/quote]

I'm not excusing anybody for their actions but the "Safe Rides Program" was filled with tons of problems. It was supposed to be anonymous but many players felt the league alerted the teams of who used the program and when and where they used it. So players out at a strip club at 3am didn't call it because their coach would be ripping them the next day.
 

NortheasternPJ

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I'm not excusing anybody for their actions but the "Safe Rides Program" was filled with tons of problems. It was supposed to be anonymous but many players felt the league alerted the teams of who used the program and when and where they used it. So players out at a strip club at 3am didn't call it because their coach would be ripping them the next day.
You make at least 450k a year. Call a cab, limo or car service of you are afraid of being ratted out.
 

Darnell's Son

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I'm not excusing anybody for their actions but the "Safe Rides Program" was filled with tons of problems. It was supposed to be anonymous but many players felt the league alerted the teams of who used the program and when and where they used it. So players out at a strip club at 3am didn't call it because their coach would be ripping them the next day.
First of all, lol wut?

Secondly, to clarify, so you go out partying too much and your first worry is "Oh shit, coach is gonna be pissed if I'm responsible while being somewhat irresponsible."

There has been no documented evidence, to my knowledge, of this program not being anonymous. It seems to me like players may have used it, but were probably already known as party guys. I mean, teams probably know who the guys are that party hard and the ones that don't. It's not crazy to believe that the guys working at Gillette know that Gronk likes to party hardy, and that Wilfork is a family man. There is no realistic excuse for this program to not be used, and if you're SO paranoid than call a god damned taxi.
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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[quote name='Darnell's Son' timestamp='1355024066' post='4453080']

Secondly, to clarify, so you go out partying too much and your first worry is "Oh shit, coach is gonna be pissed if I'm responsible while being somewhat irresponsible."

[/quote]

It's more like "Oh shit, I'm screwed if coach knows I'm partying hard two days before the game. Maybe I can drive home and nobody will know....". It's stupid, no doubt about it, but drunk men aren't best known for their solid decision making.
 

Darnell's Son

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I get it. I just think it's really dumb. I think Goodell should institute a one strike and you're out rule. There is no reason a pro athlete should engage in this type of behavior. If a family member of mine died because Logan Mankins had a few too many, I wouldn't be so happy, would you?

And again, if these guys think teams don't know who is and isn't out partying then they are really stupid. Why protect the stupid?
 

Greg29fan

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Brent was busted for DUI while at Illinois too so he didn't learn his lesson the first time around. RIP Jerry Brown.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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[quote name='Darnell's Son' timestamp='1355024066' post='4453080']
First of all, lol wut?

Secondly, to clarify, so you go out partying too much and your first worry is "Oh shit, coach is gonna be pissed if I'm responsible while being somewhat irresponsible."

There has been no documented evidence, to my knowledge, of this program not being anonymous. It seems to me like players may have used it, but were probably already known as party guys. I mean, teams probably know who the guys are that party hard and the ones that don't. It's not crazy to believe that the guys working at Gillette know that Gronk likes to party hardy, and that Wilfork is a family man. There is no realistic excuse for this program to not be used, and if you're SO paranoid than call a god damned taxi.
[/quote]

All Safe Rides does is save players money, and most players either have lots of money or don't mind spending what little money they do possess. Driving their own vehicles rather than taking cabs is not a money issue for players, its a lifestyle issue, and that's why Safe Rides is largely just PR and was never going to solve anything.

Now if the Safe Rides vehicles were all tricked out Escalades with huge sound systems, whose chauffeurs would happily dawdle outside the club for players, maybe the program would work.
 

Darnell's Son

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No one is protecting the stupid. Banned way just saying why a stupid player would rather take his chances driving than take the league provided service.
I get that, and I didnt mean to come across as attacking Banned. I just get mad when people die for no reason other than "I was worried about my job."
 

Darnell's Son

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[quote name='Morgan's Magic Snowplow' timestamp='1355029252' post='4453129']
All Safe Rides does is save players money, and most players either have lots of money or don't mind spending what little money they do possess. Driving their own vehicles rather than taking cabs is not a money issue for players, its a lifestyle issue, and that's why Safe Rides is largely just PR and was never going to solve anything.

Now if the Safe Rides vehicles were all tricked out Escalades with huge sound systems, whose chauffeurs would happily dawdle outside the club for players, maybe the program would work.
[/quote]

By this logic, there is no fix then, yeah?

I disagree with this logic. Perhaps the teams should fund the NFLPA to set up car services. I do not accept a "Well, they're young and stupid" defense. These young men need to be properly educated and assured that their jobs are not in jeopardy if they go out on a Friday night. This whole scenario is fucked. A player was responsible for a teammate's death because they went out and partied on a Friday night. Read that again. Think about it. Let it marinate. Death. Not, omg concussion or blown ACL, DEATH. Because a kid thought he would be ratted out, or that the car he was riding in wasn't a "tricked out Escalade"?
 

kenneycb

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Disagreeing with logic doesn't change what actually happens. It's a great program in theory but from what I can gather is wholly ineffective in practice.
 

PedrosRedGlove

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[quote name='Darnell's Son' timestamp='1355030255' post='4453133']
By this logic, there is no fix then, yeah?

I disagree with this logic. Perhaps the teams should fund the NFLPA to set up car services. I do not accept a "Well, they're young and stupid" defense. These young men need to be properly educated and assured that their jobs are not in jeopardy if they go out on a Friday night. This whole scenario is fucked. A player was responsible for a teammate's death because they went out and partied on a Friday night. Read that again. Think about it. Let it marinate. Death. Not, omg concussion or blown ACL, DEATH. Because a kid thought he would be ratted out, or that the car he was riding in wasn't a "tricked out Escalade"?
[/quote]

I'm not sure why you don't accept the argument that this happened mainly because those involved are young and stupid. You said it yourself, this PERSON was responsible for another PERSON's death because they made poor decisions and drove when they shouldn't have. The NFL seems to do what it can to try to educate these guys at the rookie seminars and so forth, but obviously not all of them are receptive to it. The fact that they are in the NFL does give them one additional option with Safe Rides, I'm not sure what more of a safety net they can be given. The only solution is more education, but obviously that's imperfect.

As has already been stated, someone of their income has access to many modes of transportation, taxi, car service, limo, etc. hell if they wanted to they could probably get a sober guy at the bar to give them a free ride home just because they're Cowboys. You give them too much credit, if job security or their coach finding out had anything to do with their "reasoning" for driving themselves, they would've considered the consequence of a DUI and found another way home. Brent thought he was capable of driving, he clearly wasn't sober enough, that is the only reason this tragedy happened.
 

bsj

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What is the threshold here for number of players that need to be involved, or number of hours left before a game, for the NFL to postpone a game? Not necessarily saying that they should, just wondering. Right now I am fairly confident that if the team lost so many guys they could not field 11 by kickoff The NFL would step in but beyond that unclear.
 

PedrosRedGlove

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The threshold is probably pretty narrow, as I'm guessing it is in all major sports in this day and age. The most obvious example I could think of was the Darryl Kile situation. In that case the notice was practically as short of a notice as one could get. The Cardinals thought Kile was coming to the park up until it got close to game time and they called his hotel to figure out why he wasn't there yet. The stands had already filled and it was already game time before they made the announcement at the park that the game was to be postponed, even then they didn't tell the fans why because Kile's family was still being notified. So I guess at this point if the game can go on and the teams are willing, the games will unfortunately be played.
 

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I'm not sure why you don't accept the argument that this happened mainly because those involved are young and stupid. You said it yourself, this PERSON was responsible for another PERSON's death because they made poor decisions and drove when they shouldn't have. The NFL seems to do what it can to try to educate these guys at the rookie seminars and so forth, but obviously not all of them are receptive to it. The fact that they are in the NFL does give them one additional option with Safe Rides, I'm not sure what more of a safety net they can be given. The only solution is more education, but obviously that's imperfect.

As has already been stated, someone of their income has access to many modes of transportation, taxi, car service, limo, etc. hell if they wanted to they could probably get a sober guy at the bar to give them a free ride home just because they're Cowboys. You give them too much credit, if job security or their coach finding out had anything to do with their "reasoning" for driving themselves, they would've considered the consequence of a DUI and found another way home. Brent thought he was capable of driving, he clearly wasn't sober enough, that is the only reason this tragedy happened.
I'm not sure you've fully tracked Darnell's posts in this thread. It seems that he is emphasizing the stupidity and attendant unnecessariness of this tragedy as much as anything.

And like many here, each time I get more info--as with IK's post--it just gets stupider, more unnecessary, and worse.
 

mauf

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What is the threshold here for number of players that need to be involved, or number of hours left before a game, for the NFL to postpone a game? Not necessarily saying that they should, just wondering. Right now I am fairly confident that if the team lost so many guys they could not field 11 by kickoff The NFL would step in but beyond that unclear.
Perhaps the Chiefs-Panthers game was different because part of the tragedy unfolded on the stadium grounds, but otherwise I don't understand the argument that these games ought to be postponed. A couple of my young (under 35) coworkers have died unexpectedly over the years. My employers were accommodating of individuals who needed time to grieve, etc., and of course people were free to attend services (and even encouraged to do so), but the office was always open for business during regular hours -- even though closing down for a day would've had far less impact on the business than postponing a game would have on an NFL team.
 

Darnell's Son

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I'm not sure you've fully tracked Darnell's posts in this thread. It seems that he is emphasizing the stupidity and attendant unnecessariness of this tragedy as much as anything.

And like many here, each time I get more info--as with IK's post--it just gets stupider, more unnecessary, and worse.
You are correct.
 

PedrosRedGlove

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I didn't mean to sound like I was attacking Darnell so much in that post, I was nitpicking, that's what I get for posting at 3 AM. I just didn't think it was worth getting indignant over MMS's tongue-in-cheek suggestion that Safe Rides wouldn't be used by everyone until the cars are tricked out Escalades with drivers willing to stop and go when the player wants. In all seriousness that is the reality of the situation. That is the only short term fix, and any long term fix involves fixing the larger societal problem of drunken driving, not any action by the NFL to farther safeguard/deter its players.
 
M

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I didn't mean to sound like I was attacking Darnell so much in that post, I was nitpicking, that's what I get for posting at 3 AM. I just didn't think it was worth getting indignant over MMS's tongue-in-cheek suggestion that Safe Rides wouldn't be used by everyone until the cars are tricked out Escalades with drivers willing to stop and go when the player wants. In all seriousness that is the reality of the situation. That is the only short term fix, and any long term fix involves fixing the larger societal problem of drunken driving, not any action by the NFL to farther safeguard/deter its players.
I disagree with the bolded. The NFL gives its people training on how to properly handle the media, what to say / what not to say. It gives plenty of training in other areas. It would not take an act of god to drive home the point that A) people fucking die from "driving buzzed" every single day of the year, B) it hurts their salaries when PR issues dent TV ratings and ticket sales, and C) there is a free fucking car service run by their player's association for all their partying needs.

That said, other countries have been more successful at curtailing DUIs. From what I understand, in the UK, they basically throw the book at you for any amount of DUI, licenses are suspended more frequently and for longer, there's more public shaming, etc. I don't know enough about it to know whether it's had a significant impact in alcohol-related car accidents, but these are not changes that require generational attitudes to shift in order to make a difference.
 

Dehere

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I found out today that not only will the car service provided by the NFLPA drive any player home anytime from anywhere, the service also sends a second driver to follow you home in YOUR CAR so that when you get up in the morning your car is sitting in the driveway.

Source is a knowledgable person within the league. I believe him. That just blows me away.

Given that the league and PA make this service available, I think any DUI/DWI for any player or coach should be an automatic one year suspension. Second offense, lifetime ban. Then you'd see changes. IMO the league should propose penalties like this publicly and see how willing the PA is to defend its members freedom to drive drunk.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Brent is supposedly going to a private memorial service for Brown that the Cowboys are holding.

Would love to see Brown's family (and maybe some friends from the team) beat the everloving shit out of Brent there.
 

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Brent is supposedly going to a private memorial service for Brown that the Cowboys are holding.

Would love to see Brown's family (and maybe some friends from the team) beat the everloving shit out of Brent there.
Jerry Jones was on the radio this morning and said that Brown's mother requested that Brent ride to the service with the family. He will be meeting them at the airport and then ride with them from there. I didn't get the sense that it was due to the desire for violence - Brown and Brent were friends for years, after all - but who knows. I could just as easily see them having a cathartic conversation together as her flipping out and slapping him around.
 

FFCI

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Brown wasn't an innocent victim here. He was not kidnapped and tortured. He was out partying with Brent and I'm guessing, he willingly got into the car and didn't stop Brent from driving himself.

This is a tragedy - and another reminder that an "innocent" night of "boys being boys" really needs more forethought. Alcohol certainly clouds the judgement and it's just a shame that neither Brent or Brown were able to make a better decision. Also, it's too bad whoever was serving them (and should have been clear-headed) didn't step up and make the decision for them.

But for the grace of God, there are probably a lot of us that could be in either Brent's or Brown's position right now.

Hopefully from this tragedy, there will be a greater public awareness this holiday season and that more people make plans before drinking to avoid putting themselves, their friends and the public at risk.
 

Al Zarilla

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Brown wasn't an innocent victim here. He was not kidnapped and tortured. He was out partying with Brent and I'm guessing, he willingly got into the car and didn't stop Brent from driving himself.

This is a tragedy - and another reminder that an "innocent" night of "boys being boys" really needs more forethought. Alcohol certainly clouds the judgement and it's just a shame that neither Brent or Brown were able to make a better decision. Also, it's too bad whoever was serving them (and should have been clear-headed) didn't step up and make the decision for them.

But for the grace of God, there are probably a lot of us that could be in either Brent's or Brown's position right now.

Hopefully from this tragedy, there will be a greater public awareness this holiday season and that more people make plans before drinking to avoid putting themselves, their friends and the public at risk.
The BAC level in Texas that makes one considered legally intoxicated for driving purposes is .08%. I haven't seen what Josh Brent was measured at, or even if he was, but at the minimum of .08 one might not seem drunk at all. Of course if he was acting impaired, somebody should have taken his keys, but was there was anybody big enough around?
 

FFCI

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Well the details that are available are limited - the story that is emerging is that Brent and Brown went out for a few drinks and ended up at a strip club until 2 AM.

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2012/dec/10/cowboys-josh-brent-jerry-brown-privae-deadly-crash/?refscroll=318

I'm guessing that like most servers, someone might have said "Hey, you okay to drive" and once the "Yeah, I'm Okay" response is received - then it's "okay - take it slow..." The server(s) should have a pretty good idea about what and how much was consumed and regardless of the size of the man, could have taken the keys, called a car service or refused to serve.

My point is not to blame someone else and certainly nothing can be done to change the circumstances of the tragedy, my hope is that something good can come out of this, maybe its a way for sports fans to think a bit more about letting ourselves or our friends drive after a few drinks.

We all know that the legal limits are so low now that one might not seem drunk at all, especially if a person is an "experienced" drinker - and the stakes are too high to simply "look the other way."

I'm sure whoever was with them at the club, whatever "friends" that were with them, probably are dealing with their own grief and thinking, "what if I only...maybe I could have saved their lives..."