Dashcam and bodycam footage from the police chase that ended in the death of Dallas Cowboys’ Marshawn Kneeland shows frantic scenes, including his pregnant girlfriend being placed in handcuffs earlier this month.
The footage shows the beginning of the chase, during which the police vehicle reaches speeds of higher than 255 km/h and details the search for the second-year NFLer, who died by apparent suicide in the early hours of Nov. 6.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Texas state troopers used K-9 units and a drone in the search for Kneeland while also firing pepper balls into drainage tunnels after the defensive lineman fled his vehicle on foot after hitting a woman’s truck in an office park area.
The video also revealed that when Kneeland’s pregnant girlfriend Catalina Mancera arrived on the scene she was put in handcuffs and placed in the back of a squad car while police searched her Buick SUV.
After being released, Mancera assisted police in their search, informing officers that Kneeland was armed, had a history of mental illness and would “end it all.”
The incident began when an officer with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) began chasing a Dodge Charger, whose driver was later found to be Kneeland, on the Dallas North Tollway at 10:33 p.m. on Nov. 5.
While the police report said that the vehicle reached speeds of 230 km/h, the new footage shows that it was likely closer to 255 km/h.
Involved in crash
The driver of the Charger was able to evade the cop, but the vehicle was found a short time later after it crashed into a Ford F-350 truck and came to a rest on a grassy area beside the tollway in Frisco.
“I saw him in my rearview mirror coming as fast as he was. I was like ‘Oh my God, he’s not stopping’ and then he just plowed into me,” the unidentified woman who owned the truck told police.
After police searched the Charger, it was then that officers found out that the driver was Kneeland.
“When I heard who it was, I was like nah,” a trooper is heard saying in the footage.
During the search of the car, an empty holster was found under the driver’s seat. It was revealed by police that Kneeland had texted his family a “goodbye” message.
“This just became national news,” an officer said.
DPS troopers and Frisco police department officers began searching a nearby wooded area and a series of drainage tunnels under a sidewalk for Kneeland.
After Mancera arrived at the scene, she began to work with police to find Kneeland, calling him and the player’s agent several times.
At roughly 1:30 a.m., the search ended when Kneeland’s body was located inside a portable toilet, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Cowboys honour fallen star
The Cowboys have honoured the memory of Kneeland in several ways since his death, including wearing shirts with his name and face on them and holding a moment of silence before their home game this past Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Coach Brian Schottenheimer also announced that the organization has created the Marshawn Kneeland Memorial Fund, which aims to financially support both Catalina and the unborn baby.