Why did Josh Brent and Jerry Brown not learn from previous tragedies

The nightclub is less than five miles from Josh Brent's apartment. The white Mercedes travels northwest on the service road of the Carpenter Freeway. Straight

Thomas Lake | Jan 23, 2014

Why did Josh Brent and Jerry Brown not learn from previous tragedies /

Josh Brent, a former tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, faces up to 20 years for intoxication manslaughter. — Josh Brent, a former tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, faces up to 20 years for intoxication manslaughter :: Ronald Martinez /Getty Images

The nightclub is less than five miles from Josh Brent's apartment. The white Mercedes travels northwest on the service road of the Carpenter Freeway. Straight ahead is a railroad bridge, the same bridge Debbie Weir can see from her corner office. The Mercedes is a mile from the 511 Building, on the road that leads to its entrance. For 32 years the occupants of the seventh floor have tried to prevent what happens next. All it takes is a tire against the curb. The chain reaction begins. Jerry Brown's fate is in Josh Brent's hands. They are almost home.

Published Jan 23, 2014

THOMAS LAKE

Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Thomas Lake is a senior writer for Sports Illustratedwho specializes in long-form storytelling. His first story for the magazine, "2 on 5," won the Henry Luce Award for most outstanding story published by Time Inc. in 2008. Four of his stories have been reprinted in the annual Best American Sports Writing collection, and another one, "The Boy Who Died of Football," was anthologized in the book Next Wave: America's New Generation of Great Literary Journalists. Lake also cites "Did This Man Really Cut Michael Jordan?," about Jordan's forsaken high school coach; "The Legacy of Wes Leonard," about a high school basketball player who died from an undiagnosed heart condition minutes after making a game-winning shot; and "The Boy They Couldn't Kill," about the surviving son of former NFL player Rae Carruth—as among his most memorable SI pieces. Before SI, Lake covered six beats and photographed car wrecks for the The Press-Sentinel in Jesup, Ga.; worked on the education beat for The Salem News in Massachusetts; wrote features for The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville; covered crime for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida; and served as a senior editor for Atlanta Magazine. He has an associate's degree in general studies from Herkimer County Community College in upstate New York and bachelor's degree in communication arts from Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., where he ran cross-country and met his wife, Sara. They live in metro Atlanta with their two children.