{"id":376137,"date":"2026-06-26T18:36:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/376137\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T18:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:36:27","slug":"parents-of-ex-nfl-star-doug-martin-allege-excessive-police-force-led-to-wrongful-death-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/376137\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents of ex-NFL star Doug Martin allege excessive police force led to wrongful death | NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lawsuit filed by Doug Martin\u2019s parents alleges delayed care after \u2060police used excessive force led to the former All-Pro running back\u2019s death<\/a> last October.<\/p>\n

Leslie \u2060and Doug Martin \u2060filed \u200bthe wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against the city of Oakland, California, \u2060multiple police officers and an ambulance company.<\/p>\n

Martin, who was 36 when he died in police \u2060custody on 18 October, was a 2012 first-round draft \u200bpick by the Tampa \u200cBay Buccaneers \u200cwho made the Pro Bowl in 2012 (1,454 rushing yards) and \u200c2015 (1,402).<\/p>\n

According to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by USA Today, Martin\u2019s mother called paramedics because her son was experiencing a mental health crisis. Martin fled and hid inside a neighbor\u2019s house, where \u200cOakland police found him and held him \u201cface down while one or more officers pressed \u200bon his back\u201d, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cOakland Police Department Officers used excessive force … and that force was a substantial factor in causing decedent Martin\u2019s death,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n

The \u2060lawsuit also alleges that police did not immediately \u200bcall for \u200bmedical attention despite Martin \u200bbeing unresponsive. When paramedics arrived more than 15 \u200bminutes later, \u200cthey \u201cdid not \u200bpromptly provide \u200bmedical care\u201d, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Police said in a statement at the time of Martin\u2019s death that he was involved in a break-in and that a \u201cbrief struggle\u201d happened as police were trying to detain him and he became unresponsive. The department did not release any other details.<\/p>\n

The Oakland police department said it does not comment on pending litigation. The Oakland city attorney\u2019s office declined to provide a comment for reporters. Oakland police also said the investigation into Martin\u2019s death is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Martin was selected last August as one of the top 50 players in Buccaneers franchise history as part of the team\u2019s 50th anniversary celebration. He finished his seven-year career with one season playing for the Oakland Raiders<\/a> in 2018. He was originally from Oakland and lived in Stockton, where he played high school football before a standout college career at Boise State.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family is very much interested in finding out what happened to their son,\u201d attorney John Burris told the Associated Press. \u201cUnfortunately the litigation is a mechanism to best get that done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Alameda county coroner\u2019s office said an autopsy report is awaiting test results after extra testing was requested by Martin\u2019s family. Burris said he does not know what additional testing is holding up the report.<\/p>\n

In addition to the autopsy, Burris said Martin\u2019s brain was immediately sent to be examined posthumously for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which can affect regions of the brain involved with regulating behavior and emotions and is linked to contact sports such as football. The family is also awaiting those results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re concerned enough about it that they immediately sent the brain to Boston for examination,\u201d Burris said, though he added the degenerative brain disease might account for Martin\u2019s behavior but not how he died that night. Research is done at the Boston University CTE Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lawsuit filed by Doug Martin\u2019s parents alleges delayed care after \u2060police used excessive force led to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-376137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}