Brother of Tragic Football Star Aaron Hernandez Arrested for Throwing a Brick Into ESPN HQ in Angry Howl at Media

U.S. NEWS


Dennis John “D.J.” Hernandez, elder brother of the late NFL star and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez, will appear in a Connecticut court on April 13 on charges that he threw a brick wrapped in a plastic bag through a window of ESPN’s Bristol headquarters.

“To all media outlets,” the note within the bag said, according to TMZ Sports. “It’s about time you all realeyes (sic) the affect media has on all family members. Since you’re a world wide leader maybe you could lead how media and messages are delivered brick by brick. Clean it up!”

Aaron Hernandez — found dead in 2017 in his Massachusetts prison cell after hanging himself with a bedsheet — was a star tight end for the New England Patriots who was sentenced to life in 2015 for the 2013 murder of semi-pro player Odin L. Lloyd. He had just been acquitted of an unrelated double murder in Boston, an acquittal that apparently wasn’t enough to mitigate his despair.

The Hernandez brothers were close, as demonstrated by the words the surviving brother has tattooed over his heart. “D&A,” the ink reads in all capital letters. “There’s no other love like the love for a brother. There’s no other love like the love from a brother.”

That kind of affection, when mixed with grief, can play on even the most stable mind, and Mr. Hernandez appears to have difficulties with bipolar disorder, his grinning mugshot demonstrating that he’s pleased with his actions.

ESPN’s security turned away Mr. Hernandez’s Uber at its gates, but he’s alleged to have gotten out long enough to heave the brick with the accuracy and distance you’d expect from someone who played quarterback for the University of Connecticut.

After allegedly throwing his spiral, Mr. Hernandez left. Just hours before his arrest later that day, police had executed a welfare check on him after an anonymous tip that he’d threatened to smash windows at the state capitol at Hartford, and ESPN.

Despite the note’s violent delivery, Mr. Hernandez’s signoff was polite. “Yours truly,” he wrote, “Dennis J. Hernandez.” This dichotomy might be explained by the fact that, as the Bristol Press reports, Mr. Hernandez “experienced a bipolar episode that resulted in a police chase” a few weeks ago.

There’s speculation that Mr. Hernandez stews over the cases of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy afflicting former players and for which the NFL has offered little contrition, drawing the ire of those who note that the league rakes in $18 billion a year off what they see as modern gladiatorial spectacle.

A 2020 Netflix series, “Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez,” suggests that the player suffered from CTE, and that a study of his brain showed “substantial damage that undoubtedly took years to develop,” quoting the chief of neuropathology at Boston VA Health Care System, Ann McKee.

Whatever his reasons, Mr. Hernandez now faces charges for second-degree breach of peace for the brick and separate charges — for which he was arrested the same day — of “reckless driving, engaging police in pursuit and other motor vehicle charges,” according to court records obtained by TMZ.

TMZ also reported that Terri Hernandez, mother to both men, requested Mr. Hernandez — her only surviving child — undergo “a mental evaluation according to the arrest warrant.” This may be why Mr. Hernandez told police he was trying to get arrested “because he no longer wanted to stay at his mom’s house.”

That Mr. Hernandez acted out now, long after his brother’s sensational story has faded from headlines, is a reminder that for the people whose lives are made sport for gawkers, moving on from the pain of loss — even for a loved one who commits murder — isn’t so easy.

Mr. Hernandez may find himself in a cell like the one where his brother spent his final days, and the surviving sibling seems to have something to say to the press and the public.

The eyes of reporters who cover the sports beat and the press at large will be on the courthouse when Mr. Hernandez is arraigned. The world will hear whatever he has to say then, without need of a brick to get our attention.



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