Days after the one-car crash that killed Dallas Cowboys practice-squad player Jerry Brown, the mother of the 25-year-old spoke with Piers Morgan on CNN about how she and her family have been dealing with this tragedy.
Morgan asked Brown's mother, Stacey Jackson, how she felt towards Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent. Brown's friend and teammate, Brent has been charged with intoxication manslaughter for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol when the accident occurred.
"I was upset, but I realized that our youth today are young and stupid, and we were all once that age, and we've all done things we're not proud of. I realized that everyone thinks they're invincible, and everyone thinks, 'it's not going to happen to me,'" she told Morgan. "I know Josh Brent, and he's been part of our family since Jerry went to the University of Illinois. All I can do is to pray for him and his family. I know [Brent] is hurting just as much as we are, because [he] and Jerry were like brothers."
Brent, who was released from jail on Sunday on $500,000 bond, and Brown were friends and teammates at Illinois before becoming teammates again in Dallas. According to The Dallas Morning News, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Jackson requested that Brent drive to Brown's memorial service and sit with them.
"[Jackson] wanted to be right with Josh and to express in every way she could how much they loved him and thought of him, and didn’t want to have him grieve for his loss as a friend without being included in their family," Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, via The Dallas Morning News.
Per Star-Telegram.com, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said on Monday that he visited with Brent.
"What we want to do as an organization, as players, as coaches and this entire organization is let him know he should feel supported everywhere he turns. That’s what we want to express to him," Garrett said. "It’s a very challenging situation for him. He and Jerry are best friends. They have known each other since college. They were very close in college, very close since they’ve been here together, and it’s a really, really difficult situation for him. We want to make him feel that there are people around him who can help him get through this thing day by day."
More from the Associated Press:
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys are standing behind Josh Brent after the defensive tackle was accused of driving drunk and causing a wreck that killed practice squad linebacker Jerry Brown.
Brent was greeted warmly by coach Jason Garrett at the team's headquarters Monday, a day after he was released from jail on $500,000 bond on an intoxication manslaughter charge. The coach also said Brent was invited to a private memorial service set for Tuesday.
Garrett says the Cowboys are going to "support Josh 100 percent in every way that we can." A spokesman says the NFL has "no issue" with Brent being at the facility.
Police in the Dallas suburb of Irving say Brent was speeding Saturday when his vehicle struck a curb and flipped. Brown was pronounced dead at a hospital.