EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org. Helplines outside the U.S. can be found at www.iasp.info/suicidalthoughts.
Police say 24-year-old Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland was found dead of an apparent suicide after evading authorities in his vehicle and fleeing the scene of an accident on foot.
Frisco (Texas) Police Department officials said Thursday they are investigating the suicide. They said Kneeland didn’t stop for Texas Department of Public Safety troopers over a traffic violation in a chase that was joined by Frisco Police on Wednesday night.
Authorities lost sight of the vehicle before locating it crashed minutes later. During the search after Kneeland fled the crash site on foot, officers said they received word that Kneeland might be suicidal.
As authorities were looking for Kneeland, a dispatcher told officers that people who knew him had received a group text from the NFL player “saying goodbye. They’re concerned for his welfare,” according to recordings from Broadcastify, which archives public safety radio feeds.