Kyren Lacy didn’t get a moment of silence. His death barely got recognition from LSU. The No. 1 receiver from Receiver U should be in the middle of his rookie season right now after cementing himself as a high pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Instead a 24-year-old’s life was snuffed out, tragically ended by a self-inflicted gunshot wound when a young man felt his life was over because none of the institutions he sacrificed himself for were willing to hear his story, or have his his back.
Lacy died on April 13, 2025. Days before he was set to be indicted by a Grand Jury for an alleged role in a deadly traffic accident. Six months later we’re learning that the details of his arrest, and the investigation that led him to taking his own life were a sham, a systematic lie, a series of egregious mistakes both intentional and unintentional, designed to expedite an investigation instead of being correct. It came at the expense of a brilliant young football player.
Kyren Lacy’s story deserves to be told, and everyone who contributed to his marginalization should be held accountable.
What was Kyren Lacy accused of?
On December 17, 2024 a traffic accident occurred on Louisiana Highway 20, which tragically led to the death of a 78-year-old man. Police claimed following an investigation that Lacy was the driver of a 2023 Dodge Charger which caused the accident. A report released by police said that Lacy crossed the center line, drove into oncoming traffic, was speeding, and driving recklessly. This in turn caused a motorist to take evasive action to avoid Lacy, resulting in a head-on collision with another vehicle, leading to the death of the man. Following the crash police claim Lacy fled from the scene, and didn’t make an effort to contact emergency services.
This information was released by Louisiana State Police on January 10, 2025 — alongside a warrant for Lacy’s arrest for negligent homicide, felony hit-and-run and reckless operation of a vehicle. Law enforcement said there was no doubt, Lacy was the sole cause of the accident, and their investigation was thorough. Lacy proclaimed his innocence, but turned himself in on the charges and was released on a $151,000 bond.
That afternoon a short statement was released by Lacy’s agent, indicating that his client was cooperating with authorities, and that they were confident the truth would come out as the process unfolded.
The marginalization of Kyren Lacy
As soon as news of Lacy’s arrest broke he was frozen out of the NFL Draft process. The league did not extend him an invite to the scouting combine in Indianapolis, citing that his legal situation had not been resolved. This came despite the fact that numerous prospective NFL players in the past have had existing legal issues last into the combine and were not punished by the league.
Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter left Indianapolis mid-combine in 2023 to address his role in a speeding incident which claimed the life of a Georgia football staffer. He was able to return to conduct meetings with teams, and eventually cemented himself as a top-10 pick. After Lacy was rejected by the NFL Combine his agent released a scathing statement on the league’s refusal to allow due to process to play out and punish his client prematurely.
“To the NFL, shame on you for revoking Kyren’s Combine invitation without acknowledgement or consideration of the facts. I urge you to re-evaluate your processes and provide athletes with the necessary due process before alienating them from their peers and dreams they’ve worked so hard for. Shame on the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office for being more concerned about public perception – and pressure to charge someone – than actually investigating the facts.”
Lacy was unable to show his skills in Indianapolis, and instead forced to rely on a pro day at LSU. He was fantastic, running a 4.5 in the 40, showing off incredible hands, and displaying the agility many believed would have made him a 1st round pick, potentially even the second WR off the board.
It was believed that someone would still roll the dice on Lacy in the NFL Draft, but it’s unclear what was being said behind closed doors. We don’t know what teams were telling his agent about his draft stock, or whether this contributed to the decline of Lacy’s mental health.
The death of Kyren Lacy
On Saturday, April 12 — days before Lacy was set to face a Grand Jury for the December accident, police in Houston, Texas reported that Lacy had been found dead in his car due to an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Their report indicated that Lacy had gotten into a verbal altercation with two family members that evening, and fired a gun into the ground before leaving in his car.
This resulted in an attempted traffic stop when police saw Lacy’s car, which they said led to a vehicular pursuit. Lacy allegedly crashed his car in the incident, and when police attempted to take him into custody they found the 24-year-old dead in the driver’s seat of his car
Following news of Kyren’s death his father, Kenny Lacy, posted on social media that parents need to check on their children’s mental health and wellbeing, mourning the loss of his son.
In response LSU released a brief statement, which read like a stock-letter they pencil a new name into when a tragedy happens.
“We’re saddened to learn of the tragic passing of former LSU Football student-athlete Kyren Lacy. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones, as well as his former teammates and coaches impacted by his passing.”
Six months on, new evidence emerges
It’s important to understand how the legal process unfolds after an arrest, and while many of you may know the process — it’s critical here in how everything played out involving Kyren Lacy. In order to make an arrest there is a fairly low burden of proof placed on law enforcement. Prosecution must simply show a judge that there were sufficient trustworthy facts that a crime was committed during a probable cause (PC) hearing, at what time the judge can decide whether or not a case can proceed.
Obtaining PC is based on police reports and officer testimony. Their oath inherently gives the word of an officer more credence than a defendant in a PC hearing, with the true burden then being placed on the prosecution as a case is set to go to trial. During this time it becomes a prosecutor’s job to further the investigation, understanding every element of the arrest, and examining evidence obtained by police.
That is what was occurring during the time when Lacy was arrested in January, and his grand jury hearing in April. The district attorney (DA) assigned to the case was looking into the charges to determine if there was truly a case. It’s unclear what was uncovered during this process, but Matt Ory, an attorney for the Lacy family, claims that the DA found inconsistencies between the police’s version of events, and what the evidence showed in the traffic accident.
Ory appeared on local TV in Louisiana, in the parish where the accident took place, and conducted a 44 minute interview on October 3rd, in which Ory showed all the findings from the district attorney. That evidence showed not only that Lacy was not responsible for the accident, but that he wasn’t in a position where he ever could have been responsible for the accident.
Video of the accident shows that Lacy was two car lengths behind the collision. It doesn’t show him traveling at a high rate of speed, or that he was tailgating traffic to a point where another driver could have felt threatened by his driving. In fact, data showed that Lacy was 92.3 yards behind the accident when it took place.
While Lacy did pass vehicles prior to the accident in a no-passing zone, the district attorney’s evidence showed that Lacy had returned to the correct lane of travel prior to the accident itself.
The evidence went on to show that the vehicle in the opposing lane of travel, which ultimately made contact and led to the death of the individual, was tailgating the car in front of it — and that the driver did not attempt to brake until 0.5 seconds before the accident. The driver of that car originally told police that they were responding the Lacy’s car, but the evidence shows that was impossible.
It gets worse.
When the driver who survived the accident was questioned by police in hospital the interview notes show that the witness was directly led by officers to identify Lacy. The witness claims she was trying to avoid the truck in front of her, which we know from the data she was tailgating — to which police respond:
“Are you looking at a green Charger coming at you?”
This is the first mention of Lacy’s vehicle. Then comes a statement by the district attorney which is damning of the police investigation:
“During this interview with the Trooper, [REDACTED] made several statements that do not match the submitted report or written statement. Instead of questioning [REDACTED] for more details, the Trooper attempted to recap what she was saying, which seems to contradict her statements. While doing this, the Trooper is the first to talk about [REDACTED] swerving off to the right. Then when it comes to obtaining a written statement, the Trooper tells [REDACTED] what to document on the statement as she is writing.”
It gets worse.
Body-worn camera footage of a trooper asking for a witness statement shows him directly instructing a man what to put in his statement. The man, who seems unsure was happened, is directly told “make sure you put that you had to slam on your brakes to avoid that green Charger.”
In response to this the witness says “she caused that wreck, that lady in the back of me. She swerved to the other side.” The officer ignores the man’s statement, instead saying “The Charger was coming right at you which is why you needed to slam on your brakes. That’s very important. Make sure you include that.”
There is absolutely no question in the mind of the district attorney’s report that this was a hurried and botched investigation at best, and at worst it was deliberately misleading to ensure that Kyren Lacy was charged with the crime. I implore you to watch the entire interview, which contains the DA’s findings.
Police respond
The information provided by Matt Ory is absolutely damning, and predictably the Louisiana State Police went into damage control. They released their own version of events on Tuesday in an 11 minute video which claims to support their findings. In it there is only one interview with a witness, the driver of a tractor trailer who was not near the accident, but claimed that Lacy’s green Charger passing him caused the wreck.
This version of events does not address the DA’s concerns with the shoddy investigation, or contain information about the leading witness interviews which happened on two separate occasions. Instead it focuses on Lacy illegally passing vehicles and continues to assert that the accident was his fault.
It also does not address the fact Lacy had re-entered his lane and decelerated.
Where do things stand now?
Police continue to assert that their investigation was complete and thorough. The district attorney’s office has not yet released a statement. Ory, the attorney for the Lacy family, released a public statement asking people to not blame the DA for the charges which ultimately led to Lacy’s death, but praised her thorough investigation of the facts, which he believes would have exonerated Kyren Lacy.
We are left with two tragedies. Firstly, a 78-year-old man who lost his life in that accident due to a combination of factors in a horrible situation. Then, the death of Kyren Lacy himself. A 24-year-old who took his own life because of a series of events that unfolded due to him overtaking cars when he shouldn’t have. An infraction which should have carried a $150 fine instead lead to an LSU player being charged with a felony, slandered in the media, abandoned by the NFL, and shattering not just his NFL dreams, but his life.
Kyren Lacy’s story deserves to be told because it’s too common. This is not okay.
