More details from the sad story of former Bears safety Dave Duerson’s suicide were released in the autopsy report by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department. Duerson died after shooting himself in the chest and asked for his brain to be donated to the NFL Brain Bank for examination. The 11-year veteran may have suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is a condition many athletes have developed after receiving repeated concussions, and he wanted to know if he suffered from the condition.
The Autopsy Report describes the environment in Duerson’s apartment when the police arrived. The building’s manager called the police to enter the apartment after a chair was lodged up against the door. Inside the apartment they found several documents on the dining room table. In the second bedroom, there were more documents laid out along with two framed certificates, framed medals, and an American flag folded at the head of the bed. They found Duerson dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest in the master bedroom. In the walk-in closet in his bedroom, they found a football statue, three helmets from different teams, and three football trophies. The helmets were likely from the Bears, Giants, and Cardinals — the three teams for whom Duerson played.
There is no doubt the suicide was carefully planned out by Duerson and that he believed multiple concussions from his NFL career led to his sad state later on in his life. Not only did he have financial issues, the former two-time Super Bowl Champion complained of memory loss and an inability to spell before dying. The tragic tale is just another example of why the NFL is taking much more serious precautions when it comes to treating players who have suffered concussions.
To read more, below is the autopsy report courtesy of The Huffington Post. Click on each picture twice to enlarge.
