Three days after he was laid to rest, questions still remain regarding the cause of Bengals receiver Chris Henry’s death.
According to Chris Kirkpatrick of the Charlotte Observer, the investigation into Henry’s passing is still open, and police will be speaking again with his fiancee, Loleina Tonga, and other witnesses.
The core question is whether Henry jumped out of the back of the truck that Tonga was driving, or whether he fell out due to intentional or negligent actions on her part.
Though it probably would be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Tonga deliberately tried to eject Henry from the back of the truck, authorities possibly could charge her with negligent homicide or involuntary manslaughter based simply on the fact that he was in the back of the truck asking her to stop and she didn’t stop and he ultimately died because she didn’t stop.
The nuances of North Carolina law would then come into play regarding whether he intentionally jumped out of the truck, including whether prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he didn’t jump or whether Tonga’s lawyers would be required to prove as an affirmative defense that Henry did.
But here’s the reality -- unless Tonga reasonably feared that he was going to injure her, there’s no reason why she should have continued to drive when he was asking her to stop. And while this stew of conflicting facts might never produce a clear answer, it makes sense for the authorities to continue to press for details in the hopes that Henry’s family, friends, and teamates will have a better sense of the events that preceded his death.
