Cowboys' Jerry Brown dead, teammate Josh Brent charged

Cowboys linebacker Jerry Brown has died in an early morning car crash, and Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent has been charged with intoxication manslaughter.

The police department in Irving, Texas, has confirmed that Brown died early this morning and Brent (whose legal name is Josh Price-Brent) was charged.

"Officers at the scene believed alcohol was a contributing factor in the crash; therefore, Price-Brent was asked to perform field sobriety tests," a statement from the Irving Police Department said. "Based on the results of the tests, along with the officer's observations and conversations with Price-Brent, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated. He was transported to an area hospital for a mandatory blood draw. Once it was learned that the passenger of his vehicle had died as a result of the crash, Price-Brent was booked into the Irving City Jail on one count of Intoxication Manslaughter."

Brown and Brent were friends and teammates at Illinois before becoming teammates again with the Cowboys. Brown was 25.

Matthew Haag‏@matthewhaag

Irving Police just released news release on Dallas Cowboys player killed this morning

Richie Whitt @richiewhitt

Josh Brent/Jerry Brown teammates at Illinois; were partying last night at Dallas hot spot Privae w/ Shawn Wayans before accident. #Cowboys

Gregg Doyel ‏@GreggDoyelCBS

Josh Brent was arrested THREE YEARS AGO for DUI. Suspended at Illinois by Zook. Here http://cbsprt.co/YOGnND

Tania Ganguli ‏@taniaganguli

college teammates RT @merci380: R.I.P to the big homie Jerry Brown sad that he's gone before his time.

Originally posted by susweel:
don't know how that's considered manslaughter when the other dude got in the car knowing the driver was drunk.

A definition of intoxication manslaughter, from dfwdwi.com:

Texas law states that if a person commits an offense if a person operates a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated and by reason of that intoxication causes the death of another by accident or mistake.