Brother of late NFL star Aaron Hernandez arrested for allegedly throwing brick at ESPN office
‘To all media outlets, it’s about time you all realeyes [realize] the affect [effect] media has on all family members,’ note from DJ Hernandez states
The brother of the late NFL star Aaron Hernandez, Dennis “DJ” Hernandez, has been arrested after allegedly throwing a brick at ESPN headquarters.
An incident report from police in Bristol, Connecticut, states that a suspect arrived at ESPN HQ in an Uber on 23 March, exited the vehicle and threw something at the building, then got back in the car and left the scene.
A complaint filed anonymously with Bristol Police shared worries that Mr Hernandez wanted to smash windows at the state capitol and ESPN HQ, according to WFSB.
Police found a white plastic bag at ESPN holding a brick and a handwritten note.
“To all media outlets, it’s about time you all realeyes [realize] the affect [effect] media has on all family members. Since you’re a wold [world] wide leader, maybe you could lead how media and messages are delivered brick by brick. Clean it up,” the note said.
It was signed “yours truly, dennis j. Hernandez”.
His brother Aaron Hernandez was found dead by suicide in prison on 19 April 2017 while serving a life sentence for a 2015 murder.
DJ Hernandez was arrested on 23 March and charged with second-degree breach of peace.
Angel Colon, a former classmate of both brothers, told WFSB that “that’s kind of crazy. I don’t know why somebody would do that, especially at ESPN”.
“I went to Bristol Central when Aaron was a senior. DJ I didn’t know very much about, but I knew he had a lot of records for football,” the classmate added.
An arrest warrant states that Mr Hernandez was already wanted by law enforcement following an 8 March incident, which involved a brief pursuit, according to the local TV station. Police said that he had experienced a bipolar episode, and he had also been committed at Bristol Hospital.
The warrant added that he had tried to place a $7,000 charge on his mother’s credit card and that she believed an evaluation was needed.
Criminal justice professor at the University of New Haven, Dr Maria Tcherni-Buzzeo, told WFSB that among adults who cross the bounds of the law, mental health is often a factor.
“What happens is as the condition worsens, like that bipolar episode unfolds, they become more and more disconnected from reality and do more and more bizarre things and that feeling of superiority and invincibility increases where they really have a hard time gaging their actions with reality. I assume something like this happened here,” she said.
Following his 23 March arrest, Mr Hernandez was transferred to Chesire Police.
In connection to the incident on 8 March, he has also been charged with reckless driving, engaging police in pursuit, failure to drive right, failure to maintain lane, and failure to obey a traffic control signal.
Mr Hernandez is set to appear in court on 6 and 13 April.