Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry’s funeral today, holes in pick-up truck story

Chris Henry #15 of the Cincinnati Bengals watches the second half of play from the side lines after breaking his arm in the first half against the Baltimore Ravens in their NFL game at Paul Brown Stadium November 8, 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images, photo from ChicagoTribune.com)

The only sports I play well are volleyball, swimming and I’m all right on the pool table and the baseball field. I don’t memorize statistics, don’t follow sports news and usually if I recognize an athlete it’s because I think he’s cute. So my interest in the Chris Henry case came as a surprise to myself. His funeral was today, and his fiancée spoke about how “can’t nobody feel what I’m feeling now.” This is true, considering his wife, Loleini Tonga, was at the scene of the “accident.” But what I can say I feel is confusion and curiosity.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why someone would be so frustrated with a situation that he’d jump off of a moving pick-up truck knowing full well that he would not have the help of one arm, which was in a cast.

Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry, 26, died on Thursday, Dec. 17, at 6:36 a.m., in Charlotte, North Carolina after suffering head injuries in a Wednesday accident. But depending on what news report you read, his “falling” off the pick-up truck may have been him jumping off.

According to the Associated Press, Chris Henry and his fiancée, Loleini Tonga, got into an argument, she left the house, got into a pick-up truck and he jumped on the back. A witness said he was shirtless, wearing a cast, “beating on the back of his truck window” and saying “If you take off, I’m going to jump off the truck and kill myself.”

AP reported that Tonga did stop to help him when he fell about a half-mile from home. But what strikes me strange is why someone would drive a pick-up truck knowing that someone is beating against the back window to get her attention. Initially I wondered if she was scared for her life and just wanted to get away.

Chris Henry has definitely had some dark moments in his past–five NFL suspensions for weapons and drug charges. But judging from a USA Today article, it looks like Chris Henry was turning his life around.

TMZ reported that in a Tuesday, Dec. 15, meeting with a wedding planning company, Chris Henry was frustrated by the price of a photography package and asked Loleini, “How much we paying for all this?” He left “with an attitude,” and she dealt with the paperwork. Then an argument the next day and now he’s dead.

I am hoping that the dispute that led to the pick-up truck accident wasn’t about this photography package or money. It’d be really unfortunate if the reason he died was about the wedding all while Tonga is saying at the funeral, “We loved each other very much. We were supposed to get married in three months, but I’m going to wait until I see him again.”