Jovan Belcher's Mother Sues Kansas City Chiefs For Wrongful Death

Kansas City Star -- Jovan Belcher’s mother has filed a wrongful-death suit against the Chiefs, seeking unspecified damages after the former linebacker killed his girlfriend and himself in December 2012.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Jackson County circuit court, alleges that Belcher “unknowingly sacrificed his brain” during a four-year career with the Chiefs. It also alleges that the team failed to protect Belcher and his safety and knew, or should’ve known, that Belcher showed signs of cognitive and neuro-psychiatric impairment. Belcher’s body was exhumed at the request of his family at the North Babylon Cemetery in Bay Shore, N.Y., two weeks ago. His brain is being examined for evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. The family is awaiting final results.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges “wrongful conduct” by the Chiefs that “destroyed multiple lives.” The suit specifically mentions CTE many times.[...]

Belcher killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, with nine gunshots Dec. 1, 2012, at the home they shared. He then drove to the Chiefs’ practice facility and killed himself with a single shot to the head, leaving their daughter orphaned. Belcher’s mother, Cheryl Shepherd, and Zoey were both in the home when Belcher, 25, killed Perkins.

Belcher had no documented history of concussions or other head injuries. The lawsuit alleges the Chiefs missed signs of concussions, including one allegedly suffered in a game against the Bengals on Nov. 18, 2012, on a play that ended up being Belcher’s last tackle.

The suit also mentions changes in Belcher’s behavior, including mood swings, and alleges that the Chiefs “directly caused or directly contributed to cause” Belcher to develop neurological impairments or damage.[...]

The suit says Belcher was knocked unconscious during a game against the Jaguars in 2009 but was not immediately evaluated or given time to fully recover before resuming practice. It also says the team assumed a duty to provide competent health care for Belcher when it ordered him to see a counselor on at least two occasions in October and November of 2012.

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Blog author's comments - Could it be that Jovan Belcher's mother foresees, in the not to distant future, that she will not be living a life of luxury because her son's money will be gone? Responsibility is a dirty word to many people. Jovan Belcher was old enough to think for himself. He committed a terrible crime. It is unlikely that football did it. The gun didn't do it. Jovan Belcher did it.

So Belcher's mother hired a lawyer to go after the Kansas City Chiefs' owners with hopes that the Chiefs won't want to fight the suit and give the mother a large amount of money which will keep both her and her attorney rich for quite some time. Many on the left do not like football or the NFL, and if they had their way football would be banned for not only the professional players but also college, high school and youth leagues. I hope the Chiefs fight the suit.

I am guessing that this young man played football for years, probably since he was a child, so to say that injuries occurred which made him commit the crime, and take his own life, while he was with the Chiefs is overreaching. How can what Jovan Belcher did be blamed on football...because his mother has a chance to make, she hopes, a lot of money. Did his mother try to stop him from playing or was she just happy when he signed his multimillion dollar contract with the Kansas City Chiefs?

NBC's Bob Costas On Sunday Night Football With Gun Control Lecture

The Blaze -- Discussing the shocking murder-suicide that rocked the NFL over the weekend, when Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend and then committed suicide in front of his coach and general manager, Costas argued that domestic disputes are more likely to end in such a fashion if the government does not limit people’s access to firearms.


Costas said: Writer Jason Whitlock, with whom I do not always agree but today said it so well that we may as well just quote or paraphrase from the end of his article.

Our current gun culture, Whitlock wrote, ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy, and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead.’

Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it.

In the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions and their possible connection to football will be analyzed. Who knows? But here, wrote Jason Whitlock, is what I believe: If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.

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Blog author's comments - From listening to Bob Costas over the years what he said does not surprise me. He was able to give us his opinion because it's probably also what his employer thinks. I know it's what the left believes.

The writer Costas quotes said - "If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today." Belcher was clearly irrational when he killed his girl friend and took his own life. They also had a child which Belcher was not thinking about.

There will be some people who think because Jovan Belcher played professional football and may have had concussions...that this could have contributed to what he did. I obviously don't know the answer as to why Jovan Belcher did this. But I do know it is wrong to blame our Second Amendment and pass more gun control laws.

According to the Cato Institute -- States that allow registered citizens to carry concealed weapons have lower crime rates than those that don't. The 31 states that have "shall issue" laws allowing private citizens to carry concealed weapons have, on average, a 24 percent lower violent crime rate, a 19 percent lower murder rate and a 39 percent lower robbery rate than states that forbid concealed weapons. In fact, the nine states with the lowest violent crime rates are all right-to-carry states. Remarkably, guns are used for self-defense more than 2 million times a year, three to five times the estimated number of violent crimes committed with guns.