Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent was charged with manslaughter on Saturday after the car he was accused of driving while drunk crashed and killed teammate Jerry Brown Jr, in the second tragedy involving NFL players in a week.
Police in the Dallas suburb of Irving said that Brent, 24, was driving at high speed on a state highway at 2:21am when his car flipped and then caught fire.
The car slammed into an “outside curb, causing the vehicle to flip at least one time before coming to rest in the middle of the service road,” police said.
Brown, who had been in the passenger seat, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital a short time later. Brent suffered “minor scrapes” and was booked into the Irving jail, where he remained on Saturday awaiting arraignment, police said.
“Officers at the scene believed alcohol was a contributing factor in the crash,” police said, adding that Brent was given a sobriety test.
“Based on the results and the officer’s observations and conversations with Price-Brent, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated,” Irving police spokesman John Argumaniz said at a news conference.
Brown, 25, was a linebacker on the professional team’s practice squad, but had not played any games with the Cowboys. He had played in one NFL game for the Indianapolis Colts this season before joining the Cowboys.
Brown also played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League last year and for two Arena Football League team, the Jacksonville Sharks last year and the San Antonio Talons this year. Arena football is played indoors on a smaller field than NFL or Canadian outdoor football.
Brent, 24, has started in five games for the Cowboys and played 12 this season since regular starting defensive lineman Jay Ratliff was sidelined with injuries.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones issued a statement expressing his condolences to the family of Brown, who was originally from Missouri.
“We are deeply saddened by the news of this accident and the passing of Jerry Brown. Our hearts and prayers and deepest sympathies are with the members of Jerry’s family and all of those who knew him and loved him,” Jones said.
Brent remained in jail on Saturday and his bond was to be set at his arraignment yesterday morning, police said. The drunk driving charge was upgraded to intoxication manslaughter, a second-degree felony which is punishable in Texas by two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to US$10,000.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not