Former Bucs Running Back Dies While In Police Custody in Oakland

by Scott Creighton

Over the weekend, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin died of undisclosed causes while in the custody of the Oakland police department. This was confirmed by his family who ask for privacy while dealing with this tragedy.

“Cause of death is currently unconfirmed. Please respect our privacy at this time.” Cleveland (dot) com 

Mr. Martin was only 36-years-old.

Martin was a standout player for the Bucs, making the pro-bowl several times during his stint down in Tampa.

He was suspended for 4 games for violating the drug use policy and after going to rehab and apologizing to the team and fans, he returned briefly to the field only to be traded to the Oakland Raiders not long after.

Oakland police were called to a residence about a possible home break-in in the Chabot Park neighborhood where they encountered Mr. Martin. After a brief struggle, Martin was arrested and quickly became unresponsive according to police.

 

Recently there was a story about an NFL player, Kyren Lacy, accused of causing the vehicular death of an elderly man. With little evidence to go on, the sporting commentators immediately attacked a local police department saying they framed Lacy for the accident and were railroading him which led to Lacy taking his own life a couple months later.

Amid the tidal wave of racial indignation that flooded the ESPN airwaves, the local police released street camera videos which clearly showed Lacy was indeed responsible for the accident and for leaving the scene without rendering aid that could have saved the man's life.

As a result, my guess is a lot of talking heads in the sporting world are going to be very slow to accused the Oakland police of any wrong-doing in the Martin case.

And perhaps that is a good thing. Perhaps not. There was a scuffle according to police and Doug died in their custody so there needs to be a great deal of scrutiny applied to this case regardless of why Mr. Martin was in the home.

Either way, as some of you know, I follow football from time to time and remember watching Doug Martin play back then. He was something special on the football field.

It is unfortunate that some of us are afflicted by the disease of dependency and you shouldn't have to be a great football player or celebrity or politician to matter when you end up a statistic in some study somewhere.

It is unknown at this time whether or not his personal demons played any roll at all in this tragedy. I certainly hope not.

It was a joy to watch him play and my heart goes out to his family and friends. Will keep an eye on the story as it develops.