Aaron Hernandez's Brother Faces Even More Legal Trouble After ESPN Incident
The brother of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is facing serious legal trouble. Dennis "D.J." Hernandez was arrested back in March 2023 after he threw a brick at ESPN headquarters in Connecticut.
According to TMZ, the older Hernandez brother was released from custody with the expectation that he'd show up in court on July 7 to face one charge of misdemeanor breach of peace, but D.J.'s court date came and went — and he was a no-show. Now, a new order for his arrest has been issued. D.J. has not spoken out about the incident, nor has his rep released a statement of any kind.
According to the police report obtained by TMZ, D.J. is believed to have arrived outside ESPN headquarters in an Uber but was turned away. He then hurled a brick toward the building with a "handwritten note" attached. "To all media outlets. 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! Yours truly, Dennis J. Hernandez," the note read, according to law enforcement.
The incident is said to have occurred just after police were called to do a welfare check on D.J. It's unclear who may have requested said welfare check, but TMZ reports that he "allegedly stated he wanted to smash out windows at the State Capital and at ESPN."
D.J. Hernandez was arrested following a chase
D.J. Hernandez, who previously worked on the football coaching staff at Iowa State, has gotten in trouble again. Fox 61 reports that he was charged with reckless driving and engaging police in pursuit in addition to other motor vehicle-related wrongdoings after being stopped by police in Cheshire, Connecticut. A police report indicates that D.J. led police on a chase through Southington and Cheshire, but was eventually pulled over in Bristol. The car chase became a foot race as D.J. attempted to evade arrest.
According to CBS Sports, D.J. told police that he wanted to be arrested "because he no longer wanted to stay at his mom's house." TMZ reports that the incident occurred about a month before the infamous ESPN brick toss. A Connecticut court official told the outlet that D.J. pled guilty to charges including failure to use traffic control signals and wound up paying $100 in fines.
In the state of Connecticut, failure to appear in court is considered a Class A misdemeanor. According to criminal lawyer Allan Friedman's website, a person who misses a court date faces up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. Not to mention, D.J. is still facing the consequences of his actions at ESPN, which will only add to his sentence. Per court documents reviewed by ESPN, D.J. does not appear to have retained a lawyer or any legal representation, and attempts to contact D.J. by email have gone unanswered.
D.J. Hernandez was very close with his brother
Many people know D.J. because of his younger brother. Aaron Hernandez died by suicide in 2017 in his prison cell. He had been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd, AP reports. Days before his death, Aaron was acquitted of most charges in the double murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.
Aaron and his brother D.J. were very close growing up. D.J. broke down in tears during an interview with "Dr. Oz" that aired in 2020. "They have snippets of my brother's voice which I think is so powerful. At least to me...[it] is something that is hard to deal with but also beautiful, as conflicting as that is, because there's limited experiences where you hear that," he said, referring to the Netflix documentary that was made about Aaron.
In the interview, D.J. revealed that he and his brother had a very tough relationship with their father, Dennis Hernandez, whom D.J. said became violent when he drank. Dennis died in 2006 following a routine hernia surgery, according to USA Today. After Aaron's murder conviction, Sports Illustrated reported that D.J. was going by the name "Jonathan." He was formerly a football player at the University of Connecticut, where he was quarterback and team captain for two years.
In 2016, he moved to Texas where he was reportedly working as a roofer. Though D.J. is originally from the Connecticut area, Fox 61 reports that the 36-year-old resides in Riverview, Florida, a suburb about 16 miles southeast of Tampa.