Mother of Duquesne football player doesn't believe police conclusion about his death

PITTSBURGH — The mother of a Duquesne University student who died tragically last year at his dorm is not giving up on her son.

Police closed the investigation into the death of Marquis Brown but his mother believes there's more to the story.

"No parent should send their child to a university and think that their child will come back to them in a casket," said Danielle Brown. “They didn’t even notify me about closing the case. There was no communication, there was no phone call."

According to police, Marquis Brown allegedly jumped out of a window in Brottier Hall last fall.

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They claim he had been acting erratically that night, prompting several students to call 911. Police say a drug test showed Marquis Brown had marijuana in his system.

"Coming back saying that there was weed in his system is not good enough," Danielle Brown said. "A young athlete. Academically strong who gets rigorous tests because of NCAA rules -- that’s not good enough to come back and tell me that they're closing the case because they found weed in his system."

Marquis Brown played football for Duquesne University. His mother told Channel 11 he was full of life, excelled in his academics and just celebrated his birthday.

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“I think something happened in that dorm room with the police officers, there was some type of confrontation that explains how my son got out a window," she said. “I tried to ask for an incident report from the school, they wouldn’t release it to me.”

Danielle Brown is working with an attorney because she said she wants to know what happened and has questions about how officers are trained.

“Officers should’ve been trained enough if that was the case to protect my son and not to allow in their presence to prevent anything that would cause self harm,” she said.

Cox Media Group