Marshawn Kneeland was driving more than 145 mph while being chased by police before he crashed into another vehicle, fled the scene and was later found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to records and video footage released by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). The records offered the fullest picture yet of the pursuit and chaotic search for the late Dallas Cowboys defensive end in the late-night and early-morning hours of Nov. 5 and 6.
A DPS trooper saw Kneeland, 24, driving more than 145 mph before he eventually crashed into a truck, according to a police incident report released Friday. The trooper began following Kneeland around 10:33 p.m. on Nov. 5 after watching him drive at a “high rate of speed,” the report said. The trooper said Kneeland made “several unsafe lane changes” while driving a Dodge Charger on the Dallas North Tollway and reached speeds “higher than 145 miles per hour.” That trooper and another also said that they believed Kneeland’s car reached about 160 mph during the chase, according to separate body camera footage obtained through a public records request.
After Kneeland rapidly accelerated through an intersection, the trooper following him began pursuing the car using lights and a siren, which Kneeland did not stop for, according to the incident report.
The trooper eventually lost sight of Kneeland’s car, which was later located traveling southbound on the Dallas Parkway, where it hit a truck and crashed into a grassy field near Dallas Parkway and Warren Parkway, before Kneeland fled the scene on foot toward several businesses. Police found an empty holster inside the Charger, according to the report.
“He just hit me out of nowhere. … I was in the lane. He hit me,” the woman driving the truck, who was not identified, told a trooper. “ … I saw him, and I tried to get back over cause I’m like, ‘Oh, he’s not stopping,’ and he just hit me, and then he started running.”
DPS said the driver of the truck was not injured.
A disjointed search for Kneeland in the ensuing hours followed. At least 10 troopers were involved in the effort to locate him, along with officers from other police departments, a K-9 with the Frisco Police Department and a drone. The search spanned various locations, including wooded areas, parking lots and garages, and buildings around an office park located near The Star, the Cowboys’ headquarters and practice facility.
It’s unclear when each officer learned Kneeland’s identity. Some did not appear to initially know they were searching for the Cowboys player. Some suggested the vehicle was stolen since it did not have a license plate.
“When I heard who it was, I was like ‘Nah,’” said one officer in the body camera footage.
After troopers first arrived at the scene, they believed they were looking for a man in a red shirt, but a witness later said they saw a person running towards a parking garage wearing a black top and blue jeans.
Said one officer in the body camera footage: “I bet if we’d gone left instead of right…”
“We probably would have found him over here,” another in the footage finished.
Around 11:30 p.m., officers shot pepper balls into a tunnel they believed Kneeland could have been hiding in. Around that time, one of the officers said the suspect “possibly is gonna be armed.”
Frisco police dispatch previously reviewed by The Athletic said that around 11:45 p.m., members of a group chat Kneeland was in received a message from him saying “Goodbye.” Officers attempted to contact Kneeland’s phone at about the same time after confirming his number with his girlfriend, Catalina Mancera.
About 10 minutes later, officers on the scene discussed Kneeland’s connection to the NFL and were informed he had been texting his family members goodbye. “Oh that’s not good,” one of the troopers in the body camera footage said in response.
“This just became national news,” another officer said in the footage.
During the night, troopers also briefly detained, handcuffed and placed Mancera in a squad car while they searched the car she was driving in the area. The incident report, which did not name Mancera, indicated the car she was driving was registered to Kneeland.
Mancera later spoke with authorities about the search for Kneeland, and officers separately tried to ping his phone to locate him.
Officers eventually narrowed the search zone to an office complex. Around 1:20 a.m. on Nov. 6, a drone confirmed there was blood trickling from a portable restroom by the office building, and an officer said thermal imaging sensed the heat signature of someone on the floor. Just after 1:30 a.m., officers found Kneeland dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the portable restroom.
In a letter sent to the Texas Attorney General last week, a lawyer for Collin County said the Frisco Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation into Kneeland’s death. The letter cited a separate letter from Frisco PD assistant chief Darren Stevens that said the pending criminal investigation “has not yet resulted in an indictment, conviction, or deferred adjudication.”
The investigation was cited as the reason the Collin County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet released autopsy results or a death investigation requested by The Athletic. The lawyer for Collin County requested a ruling from the Texas Attorney General to withhold the information. The Medical Examiner’s Office conducted its autopsy of Kneeland on Nov. 18, the letter said.
Stevens and the Frisco Police Department did not respond to requests for comment or clarity on the investigation.
In a post on social media Monday, Mancera wrote she still has “a glimpse of hope Marshawn will walk through our front door singing and dancing to the music he was listening to in the car.”
“My sweet boy is really gone,” she wrote. “The things that I would do just to hold you one more time and tell you how much you mean to me. … You will never be forgotten. I’ll love you forever my sweet angel.”
Kneeland, a second-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, was in his second season with the Cowboys. He played in seven games this season, starting three, and scored his first NFL touchdown after recovering a blocked punt in the end zone in a home loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Nov. 3.
His death has shaken the Cowboys and the NFL. Teams have hosted moments of silence at games, and the Cowboys have honored Kneeland in various ways, including by wearing helmet decals with his number, 94, against the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 17, their first game since his death.
Earlier this month, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer also said the team started the “Marshawn Kneeland Memorial Fund” to provide direct support to Catalina, who is pregnant.
“We want to make sure she is taken care and the baby is taken care of for the rest of their lives,” Schottenheimer said. “It is very important to our guys and to us.”
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide or is in emotional distress, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or at 988lifeline.org.