After the opening of their 2019-20 campaign was marred by the drama surrounding wide receiver Antonio Brown, the Oakland Raiders had bounced back nicely through the season’s first month or so. The Raiders are currently 3-2 and playing quality football, but now it looks like another one of their stars is dealing with legal issues off the field.
Offensive tackle Trent Brown has been sued for various domestic violence incidents in California over the past year or so, according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. Florio reports that Brown has had multiple incidents of violence with the same woman as recent as this summer.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in a California civil court on behalf of Diorra Marzette-Sanders, makes various accusations against Brown, the most serious of which are that Brown “slapped the Plaintiff across the face leaving her mouth bloody and her face bruised,” that he has “bruised, bloodied and battered” her on multiple occasions, and that he threatened to “shoot yo ass in the f–king head” when she threatened at one point to leave with their son.
The lawsuit alleges that, in March 2019, Brown “grabbed her face and covered her mouth while choking her out until she couldn’t breathe,” leaving “a ring of bruises around her neck.” The lawsuit also alleges that, in April 2019, Brown “grabbed Plaintiff’s arm, took her into a room, locked the door, slapped her across the face and punched her in the ribs” while the couple was vacationing in Hawaii. In June 2019, Brown allegedly slapped Marzette-Sanders in the face, resulting in police being called to the scene and a police report being filed.
Obviously an extremely serious situation that both the Oakland Raiders and the NFL will have to monitor, domestic violence in the NFL isn’t exactly something foreign. We’ve seen offenders get away with heinous things in the past but if the police report on file proves to be accurate, playing football may be the least of Brown’s worries.
Over his five year NFL career, Brown has transformed into one of the better tackles the game has to offer. Brown played for the New England Patriots last season before signing a historic 4-year, $66M deal with the Raiders in March.
Brown had proved to be worth it for Oakland over the first month-plus of the regular season. Oakland’s offense was beginning to find its legs and their loaded o-line was a big reason behind them winning two games in a row. Now with the lawsuit surfacing, expect the NFL to launch an investigation into the allegations against Brown sometime in the immediate future. Stay tuned to Def Pen for more details as they emerge.
