Aaron Hernandez‘s brother Dennis “D.J.” Hernandez was reportedly arrested after he was alleged to have thrown a brick at the ESPN campus in Bristol, Connecticut. The 36-year-old older sibling of the deceased ex-NFL player was cited in an alleged incident from 3 p.m. on March 23.
According to police report Hernandez threw a brick at ESPN’s headquarters with a note inside a plastic bag. This was shortly after cops were asked to perform a welfare check on D.J. after he had allegedly stated he wanted to smash out windows at the state Capitol and at ESPN.
“To all media outlets,” cops say the message read. “It’s about time you all realeyes the affect media has on all family members. Since you’re a world wide leader maybe you could lead how media and messages are delivered brick by brick. Clean it up!”
The security at the ESPN campus told police that an Uber turned up to their gates but was turned away.
After the car was denied entry to the campus, Hernandez is alleged to have gotten out and thrown an object into the grounds.
Police say the note was signed, “Yours truly, Dennis J. Hernandez.”
Who Is D.J. Hernandez?
Like his brother, D.J. also played football, playing for the UConn Huskies and even serving as a graduate assistant for the University of Iowa football team.
Police say they ultimately made contact with D.J., and he admitted to being at ESPN, but “didn’t wish to speak about the incident.” He was arrested for was arrested for misdemeanor breach of peace and is scheduled to appear in court next month.
Perhaps D.J.’s note is in relation to his brother Aaron, who committed suicide in 2017 while serving time in prison for the murder of Odin Lloyd. ESPN, along with many media outlets, were wall to wall with coverage on Aaron. It’s likely that had an effect on D.J.
The former New England Patriots tight end started getting into trouble back in his college football days at the University of Florida.
The Power Of A Big-Time Football Coach
In a Boston Globe article in 2018 Hernandez was described as a troubled kid not ready mentally or emotionally for major college football.
“There was no way, except physically, he was ready for this. The young man who came to Gainesville wasn’t academically prepared or emotionally grounded for college life, according to previously undisclosed college records and recordings of phone calls Hernandez later made from jail. He had graduated high school more than a semester early — not because he was a great student but because he was a great football player.”
At 17 an emotionally underdeveloped kid was recruited by Florida then-coach Urban Meyer, who convinced Hernandez’s high school to let the teenager graduate early so he could enroll and play spring ball. A move Hernandez’s high school principal regrets now.
“If I had it to do over again, I would have fought tooth and nail not to let that kid graduate at midyear, not to let him go to Florida at midyear,” said his high school principal, Dennis Siegmann, in his first extended interview about Hernandez. “Had we had a longer time with him, maybe we could have changed things.”
D.J. wrote a biography on his deceased brother in 2018, “The Truth About Aaron: My Journey to Understand My Brother.”
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