OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — The Oakland Police Department plans on releasing body camera footage of its officers’ struggle with Doug Martin, 36, a former NFL player who died over the weekend while in police custody.
In a statement released through his former agents, Martin’s family said he had been struggling with mental health issues. His death has sparked community outcry and renewed attention on the long-term effects of head trauma and mental health challenges faced by athletes.
According to a report out Wednesday from The Mercury News, Martin’s brain will be preserved for testing for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
ABC7 News reached out to the Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau, who said no preliminary reports are available and an autopsy and death report will take 3-6 months to finalize. Martin’s former agents did not respond to our inquiry on CTE testing. The ABC7 I-team has put in records requests for the 911 calls made to Oakland Police Department, along with all body camera footage and police reports.
Dwayne Allen, an 8-year veteran of the NFL and Super Bowl champion, now works with the NFL Players Association to support athletes, current and former ones, transitioning out of the league.
“You get to that mountaintop that you’ve always dreamt of,” Allen said. “But no one has ever dreamt of what happens after getting to the top.”
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Allen said the challenges of life after football are not unique to NFL players.
“Transitions are hard,” he said. “It’s not just those who have played in the National Football League, but all high achievers.”
“CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a diagnosis that can only be made after an individual dies,” said Dr. Ashwin Ramayya, a neurosurgery professor at Stanford University. “That’s a big limitation in what we can understand about this disease.”
Dr. Ramayya provided more insight into how brain tissue is preserved and studied.
“So that can be examined under, under a microscope. And using those microscopic investigations, you can look for particular patterns. That are more likely to occur, in certain patient populations than others. And this is where I think the research is continue to evolve,” said Dr. Ramayya.
RELATED: Oakland police to release bodycam footage of encounter with ex-NFL player Doug Martin
A 2023 study from Boston University’s CTE Center found that 40% of athletes who died before age 30 had CTE. But experts say head trauma isn’t limited to sports, and much more research is needed.
“There are a lot of mysteries about brain function, brain dysfunction, and brain injury that we really need to understand. We need to develop new technology and dedicate resources to studying these problems,” Dr. Ramayya said. “But how do we come up with functional tests of how a brain works, how an individual’s brain works, right, in order to be able to, to make diagnoses that bridge those two ends, those two ends of the, two extremes, if you will.”
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Allen emphasized that resources are available for athletes who are struggling.
“If you are struggling with mental health or physical health, there’s a brain and body assessment through the trust,” he said. “If you have two years of service in the NFL, every five years they will send you to one of the Cleveland Clinics. They will check everything for you so that you can be on the forefront of your health, and hopefully prevent a tragedy before it becomes unbearable.”
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