Bengals WR Henry dies from injuries sustained in domestic dispute

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry died Thursday, one day after falling out of the back of a pickup truck during what police said was a domestic dispute with his fiancee.Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Henry died at 6:36 a.m. He was 26."We knew him in a different way than his public persona," Bengals owner Mike Brown said of the player who was suspended five times during his five-year NFL career. "He had worked through the troubles in his life and had finally seemingly reached the point where everything was going to blossom. And he was going to have the future we all wanted for him. It's painful to us. We feel it in our hearts, and we will miss him."Police spokeswoman Rosalyn Harrington said homicide detectives have been assigned to the case but had no further information.Later Thursday, police released two 911 tapes. The first was from an unidentified woman who said she was following a yellow pickup truck."It's got a black man on it with no shirt on, and he's got his arm in a cast and black pants on," she told a dispatcher. "He's beating on the back of this truck window. ... I don't know if he's trying to break in or something. It just looks crazy. It's a girl driving it."Just over a minute later, an unidentified man called 911 and said he saw a man "laying in the road" and "definitely unconscious."Henry was rushed to the hospital Wednesday after being found on a curvy section of a residential road. Police said the dispute began at a home about a half-mile away, and Henry jumped into the bed of the pickup truck as his fiancee drove away from the residence.Police said at some point when she was driving, Henry "came out of the back of the vehicle." Harrington wouldn't say if the woman, whom police wouldn't identify, was present at the scene when police arrived.Two women from separate homes nearby said Thursday that they saw the woman and the pickup at the scene when police arrived. Cheryl Hoffman said she came out with a blanket when she saw Henry wasn't wearing a shirt."When I got to where he was laying on the ground out there, he was very unresponsive, laying flat on the ground," Hoffman said. "He was foaming at the mouth, and I was very worried what was happening then."Henry is engaged to Loleini Tonga, and the couple has been raising three children. Tonga's MySpace page identifies herself as "Mrs. C. Henry" and has a picture of her next to a person who appears to be Henry. She also has a post from Tuesday talking about buying wedding rings. A neighbor said Wednesday that the Tonga family owns the home where police say the incident began. Charlotte is home to his fiancee's parents.No one answered the door at that home, where there were deep tire tracks on the front lawn. CONTINUE READING...