Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland was driving more than 145 miles per hour in the moments before he crashed, fled and took his own life in Frisco, according to records obtained Friday by The Dallas Morning News.
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Preston Hagaman first spotted the 24-year-old’s black Dodge Charger shortly after 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 near Dallas North Tollway and Frankford Road, according to an incident report. As the trooper began following, he said he observed Kneeland making several unsafe lane changes as he passed vehicles on the tollway.
Kneeland reached speeds “higher than 145 miles per hour,” the report states, before he took the exit for Headquarters Drive.
As Kneeland drove rapidly through an intersection, Hagaman began a pursuit with lights and the siren but soon lost sight of the vehicle near Lebanon Road, according to the report. The trooper ended his pursuit and requested the North Texas Tollway Authority attempt to locate Kneeland’s vehicle using surveillance cameras.
Crime in The News
Kneeland’s Charger was then located heading southbound on the Dallas Parkway before it struck another vehicle, lost control and crashed in a grassy field.
Kneeland then ran south toward several businesses. An empty holster was found in his car, the report said.
Police have said Kneeland was found in a portable restroom about 1:30 a.m., dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Kneeland was the Cowboys’ second-round pick out of Western Michigan in the 2024 NFL draft. In nearly two seasons, he played in 18 games with four starts, compiling 26 tackles and one sack.
His last game was just days before he died. After linebacker Sam Williams blocked a punt with his face mask, Kneeland outran Williams and wide receiver Ryan Flournoy into the end zone to dive on the ball for the touchdown, the first of his NFL career.
Footage captures chase, crash
Dash, body-worn camera and drone footage released by the Department of Public Safety Friday give the first in-depth look at the hours between the beginning of the chase and the moment police found Kneeland’s body.
The videos at times paint a picture of a chaotic response, with some officers appearing frustrated by conflicting information about who they’re looking for and where.
“When I heard who it was, I was like nah,” the officer is heard saying on the footage. Later radio chatter identifies who police are looking for as “a football player for the Dallas Cowboys.”
Officers can also be heard discussing the communication between the NFL and police. The league informed officials that Kneeland had sent text messages to his family saying goodbye.
“Oh, that’s not good,” one officer says.
About 11 p.m., Kneeland tried to speed past a pickup truck on the Dallas North Tollway access road, but hit the left side. The truck slowed to a stop in the right lane as Kneeland swerved into the grass.
The driver, a woman who has not been publicly identified, can be heard telling officers Kneeland came “out of nowhere.”
“This is unreal,” she said. “I saw him and I tried to get back over cause I’m like, oh, he’s not stopping. He just hit me, then he started running.”
The woman said she was physically OK and declined medical treatment at the scene.
“She’s just very freaked out,” an officer said in another video. “He hit her hard…Luckily she was in an F250. If she was in a smaller car, she’d be dead.”
Kneeland flees on foot
After the collision, a traffic camera shows Kneeland running from the scene twice. The first time, he runs across the parking lot, nearly out of frame, before turning around and heading back to his car. He spends less than a minute there, then flees in the same direction.
The first responding officer misses him by less than 30 seconds, the footage shows.
One video shows an officer walking toward the Charger, gun drawn.
“Where’d they go? Where’d they go? Where’d they go?” he yells.
Police begin hearing reports of a man in a red shirt running northbound. Later on, a pedestrian tells an officer they saw someone running southbound, toward a parking garage.
“What was he wearing?” the officer asks.
“Black top with blue jeans,” the witness said.
The remaining search lasted about an hour and a half.
Minutes before midnight, police said in a dispatch recording that they were on the phone with the NFL when they learned Kneeland had already texted his family goodbye.
Drone footage revealed law enforcement searching for Kneeland, who fled on foot after crashing his Charger in an empty field. Officers used geolocation tools to ping his cell phone and pinpoint his location.
Police drones used thermal sensors that detect body heat to aid in the search for Kneeland, and at about 1:32 a.m., video footage showed a figure slumped over in a portable toilet.
Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer confirmed earlier this month that Kneeland’s girlfriend, Catalina Mancera, is pregnant. A Marshawn Kneeland Memorial Fund has been established by Kneeland’s family and management team to support her and the baby.
The News is still reviewing footage, and the story will be updated.