Filed under: Football
On January 7, Baltimore Raven safety Ed Reed was in Baltimore preparing for a playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs, but his younger brother Brian Reed was in Louisiana suffering from some mental issues.Brian, 29, left his home early that morning without permission with his younger brother's car. Knowing that Brian was dealing with some mental issues, his family called the police.
Brian ran out of gas and a St. Charles-Jefferson Parish Sheriff stopped to help him push the car to the side of the road. When they were finished, the sheriff got the call to detain Brian, but when the sheriff called out to Brian, he jogged away. When the sheriff went after him, Brian crossed a levee and jumped in to the Mississippi river.
"He had some mental stuff going on before, [but] there was truly no sign of this happening," Ed Reed said at a press conference this week, after Brian's body was found, according to the Baltimore Sun. "Like Sheriff [Greg Champagne of St. Charles Parish] said, we don't know what triggered it, we don't know what happened ... between him running from the police officer and the decision he made.
"We know that there's bigger things in life, principalities, that we have to deal with spiritually. Maybe he was dealing with something and having more pain than we ever [knew] that made him make that decision. My brother was not that type of person to have that mentality of doing anything to himself. He was always real close to us and we were close to him."
Ed Reed is scheduled to be in Hawaii this week to play at the Pro Bowl but instead will be staying in Louisiana to be with his family in mourning. According to the sheriff, the Mississippi River was very treacherous that day. Brian's body was found this week about 40 yards from where he jumped in and was caught in debris from an old dock.
"We knew, the parish knew, that day that my brother was having some mental issues and [his parents] contacted the police and had to report the car stolen to try to basically slow my brother down and bring him in, bring him home," Reed said. "Unfortunately, he thought otherwise and the officer was not able to apprehend him and bring him home. ... It was nothing illegal going on or anything like that. It was just an issue where concerned parents were trying to bring their child to safety."