Jerry Brown Jr. Drunk Driving Accident: Autopsy Reveals Dallas Cowboy Was Sober When he Died

Jerry Brown Jr., the Dallas Cowboys player killed in a drunk driving accident by his teammate and friend Josh Brent, was sober at the time of his death, The Dallas Morning News reported. The practice-squad linebacker had a blood-alcohol content of 0.056 percent, low enough to still legally drive.

The autopsy revealed Brown died of blunt force injuries of the head and neck, according to the Morning News. His death was ruled an accident.

For reasons still unknown, nose tackle Jerry Brown Jr. - whose blood-alcohol content was twice Texas' legal limit of o.o8 percent, police have said - drove the pair home that evening. According to local authorities, neither Brown nor Brent were wearing seat belts when Brent's vehicle flipped after clipping a curb on a highway access road eventually crashing onto a median.

The implications are obvious here. Why was Brent driving if he was substantially more intoxicated than his friend Brown?

Brent has a history with drunk driving, and was also arrested for DUI in 2009. He has been charged with one count of intoxication manslaughter for the accident, and faces 20 years in prison, as well as penalties from the NFL for violating the league's personal conduct and substance abuse policies. He is currently free on $100,000 bond, and is wearing an alcohol monitor, according to the New York Daily News.

Brent was driving early the morning of Dec. 8 in his Mercedes with teammate and best friend Brown when he crashed his car, fatally injuring Brown. Hours before the DUI accident that claimed the life of linebacker Jerry Brown, 12 Cowboys players were reportedly drinking excessively at private Dallas nightclub, Privae, according to the promoter of the club. Brent and Brown were among the players in attendance, according to USA Today.

Brown was fatally injured in a car accident with Brent following leaving the club. Brent, Brown's best friend and teammate, wrecked his vehicle with Brown in the passenger seat in a high-speed early morning crash, according to Yahoo News. Irving police had said Brent sustained minor injuries in the crash. Brown was unresponsive at the scene and died later at a hospital.

Brown was laid to rest in a casket emblazoned with a Cowboys logo Dec. 15 in his hometown of St. Louis.

In a statement issued shortly after the crash, Brent said he was "devastated and filled with grief."

"I will live with this horrific and tragic loss every day for the rest of my life," he said in the statement. "My prayers are with his family, our teammates and his friends at this time."

According to Yahoo News, drunk driving is the biggest legal issue effecting players in the NFL. A study by the San Diego Union-Tribune found that 112 of the 385 NFL player arrests (29 percent) between 2000 and 2008 involved drunk driving, Yahoo News reported.