The Oklahoman Does a Story on the Tragic Incident Desean Brown Deeply Regrets

STILLWATER – Last Wednesday Oklahoma State signed Choctaw High School standout defensive end Desean Brown to a letter of intent to play football on full scholarship for the Cowboys. The Oklahoman has now released a story on Brown on what had to be the worst mistake of his life. However, it was a tragic incident that Oklahoma State felt should not destroy Brown’s future.

The Oklahoman story has many more details as they were able to obtain the report from the Moore Police Dept.

It was March 14 of this year; Brown was speeding, well over the posted limit, on Eastern Ave. and he hit a youngster on a bicycle and that youngster was killed. Brown was not under the influence of alcohol or any illegal substance. He was driving too fast. He was at fault. Since Brown was a juvenile and 17-years-old at the time his name was not released to the public. The continued court involvement and records were sealed. Brown was placed under the Youthful Offender Act in Oklahoma.

The Youthful Offender Act allows teenagers charged with serious crimes the opportunity for release into the community if they complete a treatment program. It gives a sentencing alternative for those teenagers, rather than dealing with them purely as a juvenile or as an adult. The purpose of the Youthful Offender Act is to better ensure the public safety by holding youths accountable for the commission of serious crimes, while affording courts methods of rehabilitation for those youths the courts determine, at their discretion, may be amenable to such methods. It is the further purpose of the Youthful Offender Act to allow those youthful offenders whom the courts find to be amenable to rehabilitation by the methods prescribed in the Youthful Offender Act to be placed in the custody or under the supervision of the Office of Juvenile Affairs for the purpose of accessing the rehabilitative programs provided by that Office.

Brown was charged vehicular manslaughter. He pleaded guilty and that was later amended to nolo contendre or no contest. He has done everything the judge in the case asked him to do.  

Brown hasn’t openly spoken about the situation, but those close to him say it is something he thinks about every day and has much remorse over. He has said he would trade places with the victim if he could. 

As you can imagine, the relatives of the deceased have heavy emotions with regard to the situation.

The Oklahoman became aware of the situation over the weekend and pursued it as a story. 

Oklahoma State was aware of the situation after they offered, but they investigated and did their due diligence with the facts presented to them. It was a unanimous decision to go forward with pursuing Brown as a student-athlete. He had not been in trouble previously, has an excellent academic record.

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer

Mike Gundy and his staff did their due diligence in investing the incident and Brown.

While Oklahoma State offered before the accident, there were at least six Division I schools that offered Brown after learning of the situation including the University of Oklahoma, University of Oregon, and University of Michigan.

Brown finished with 92 tackles, 31 tackles-for-loss, and 13 sacks this past season. On top of that he had a blocked field goal, blocked a punt, had a pair of forced fumbles, and recovered a fumble that he returned for a touchdown. His numbers as a junior in helping the Yellow Jackets get all the way to the Class 6A-II State Championship Game where they challenged Bixby were also outstanding. He had 75 total tackles, 30.5 tackles-for-loss, and 15 sacks. He also defended two passes, had two fumble recoveries, and an interception.

One person close to the situation told me, “Desean would trade places with the young man that died if he could.” That doesn’t surprise me and neither does the statement one of his teammates said, “I know Desean thinks about that accident every day. It is a terrible thing to have to carry with you. I can look at him and often see that.”