Chris Henry ( wide receiver ) Chris Henry ( May 17 , 1983 – December 17 , 2009 ) was an American football wide receiver who played five seasons in the National Football League for the Cincinnati Bengals . He played college football at West Virginia and was drafted by the Bengals in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft . Early years . Henry was born to Carolyn Lee and David Henry in Belle Chasse , Louisiana . He attended Belle Chasse High School where he was named New Orleans small schools offensive player of the year during his senior year . During that season the Fighting Cardinals made it to the Louisiana AAA State championship game , which was played at the Louisiana Superdome . Henry also excelled in basketball and track . College career . Henry enrolled at West Virginia University in 2002 , spending his first season as a redshirt . In 2003 , he earned Big East Conference freshman of the year and All - Big East second - team honors for catching 41 passes and gaining 1 , 006 yards and scoring 10 touchdowns . He also became the second player in school history to record over 1 , 000 receiving yards in one season ( behind David Saunders ) , and his 24 . 5 yards per reception are the third most in a season in school history . Henry ' s best game was a career - high performance of 209 yards and two touchdowns against Syracuse . His career - long reception came against Rutgers that season , an 83 - yard reception . In 2004 , Henry started seven games and caught 52 passes for 872 yards with 12 touchdowns . After catching three passes in a 30 – 18 loss to Florida State in the 2005 Gator Bowl , Henry announced that he would enter the 2005 NFL Draft . Henry ' s 12 touchdowns ties him with Darius Reynaud for the school ' s single - season touchdown record . while his 52 receptions are the eighth most in a season During Henry ' s sophomore season , he was ejected from a game at Rutgers University due to multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and was suspended for the season finale against the University of Pittsburgh . His former Mountaineers coach , Rich Rodriguez , stated that he was " an embarrassment to himself and the program " for his conduct . Henry majored in athletic coaching education . Accomplishments . Henry was the third player in Mountaineers ' history to average more than twenty yards per catch for his career . Henry ' s 1 , 878 career receiving yards is eighth most in school history , while his 93 receptions are the 14th most . His 22 touchdown receptions are also second most in school history . Henry ' s six career 100 - yard receiving games is tied for third most in school history . Professional career . Cincinnati Bengals . Henry was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft . He made his NFL debut on September 18 , 2005 against the Minnesota Vikings . In his rookie season with the Bengals , he amassed 31 receptions for 422 yards and six touchdowns . In the Bengals ' first playoff game in fifteen years against the Pittsburgh Steelers , he had a reception for 66 yards on the Bengals ' second play from scrimmage . However , on the play , both he and Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer suffered knee injuries . In his second season , Henry totaled 605 yards on 36 receptions for nine touchdowns , with an average of 16 . 8 yards per catch . On the second game of the season against the Cleveland Browns , Henry recorded five receptions for 113 yards , while he recorded two touchdowns the next week against the Pittsburgh Steelers . In the season finale against the Steelers , Henry totaled 124 yards off of four receptions and scored one touchdown . Henry was suspended for eight games in 2007 for violating the NFL ' s personal conduct policy . He returned in week 10 against the Baltimore Ravens , where he had four receptions for 99 yards . In the following loss to Arizona , Henry totaled eight receptions for 81 yards and one touchdown . Henry finished the season with 21 receptions for 343 yards and two touchdowns . Following his arrest in April 2008 , Henry was waived by the Bengals . President Mike Brown explained that Henry had forfeited his opportunity to pursue a career with the Bengals and that his conduct could no longer be tolerated . Return to Cincinnati . On April 7 , 2008 , ESPN radio analyst and former player Michael Irvin said he took a phone call from Henry , discussing " cleaning up his act " , much like Irvin encouraged Adam " Pacman " Jones to do . Henry and Jones were teammates at West Virginia , and both served NFL suspensions imposed by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell during the 2007 NFL season . With Bengals receivers Chad Ochocinco , T . J . Houshmandzadeh , and Andre Caldwell nursing injuries during the 2008 preseason , Henry was re - signed to a two - year contract by the Bengals on August 18 . The move came less than a month after Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis stated the team had no interest in bringing back Henry . After serving his four - game suspension to begin the 2008 season , Henry was activated from the exemption list on October 4 . Running back Kenny Watson was released to make room for Henry on the roster . Henry finished the 2008 season with 19 receptions for 220 yards and two touchdowns . He was placed on injured reserve in November 2009 , after suffering a broken forearm while making a 20 - yard reception against the Baltimore Ravens . Personal . Off - the - field problems . On December 15 , 2005 , Henry was pulled over in northern Kentucky for speeding . During a search , marijuana was found in his shoes . He was also driving without a valid driver ' s license or valid insurance . He pleaded guilty and avoided a jail sentence . One month later , on January 30 , 2006 he was arrested in Orlando , Florida for multiple gun charges including concealment and aggravated assault with a firearm . He was reported to have been wearing his # 15 Bengals jersey at the time of his arrest . He pleaded guilty to this charge and avoided jail time . On April 29 , Henry allowed three underage females ( ages 18 , 16 and 15 ) to consume alcohol at a hotel in Covington , Kentucky . One of the three , an 18 - year - old woman , accused Henry of sexually assaulting her ; she later retracted her story and was charged with filing a false police report . On January 25 , 2007 , Henry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of a city ordinance commonly referred to as a " keg law . " He was sentenced to 90 days in jail , with all but two of those days being suspended . He was pulled over on Interstate 275 in Ohio on June 3 at 1 : 18 A . M . by Ohio Highway Patrol trooper Michael Shimko for surmised drunk driving . He voluntarily submitted to a breathalyzer test at 2 : 06 A . M . at the Milford Police Department and registered a . 092 blood - alcohol level , . 012 above the level permitted in the state of Ohio . On October 6 , he was suspended by the NFL for two games for violating the league ' s substance abuse and personal conduct policies . NFL policies forbade Henry from taking part in practices , however , he was allowed to attend any team meetings . Henry missed the Bengals ' October 15 , 2006 game at Tampa Bay and their October 22 , 2006 home game versus Carolina . The following April , Henry was suspended for the first eight games of the 2007 NFL season for violations of the NFL ' s personal conduct policy . His suspension on the 10th came with a stern warning that future misconduct may result in the end of his career with the NFL . Henry was given permission by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to begin practicing fully . His suspension was lifted and he played in the November 11 , 2007 game versus the Baltimore Ravens , amassing 4 catches for 99 yards . Henry allegedly assaulted a valet attendant at Newport on the Levee in Newport , Kentucky on November 6 , 2007 . He was arrested for a second time in Orlando on December 3 for violating his probation he was on from a January 30 , 2006 arrest . On February 21 , 2008 , he was found not guilty . On March 31 , 2008 , Henry punched a man named Gregory Meyer , 18 , and threw a beer bottle through the window of his car . Henry claimed it was a case of mistaken identity and also that he thought it was somebody else that owed him money . Henry was waived by the Bengals a day after this arrest and was then served a house arrest sentence . Death . On December 16 , 2009 , Henry was involved in a car accident in Charlotte , North Carolina , where he sustained grave injuries . Charlotte police stated that Henry fell out of the back of a moving truck driven by his fiancee , Loleini Tonga , while they were engaged in a domestic dispute . Tonga has three children by Henry . On December 17 , 2009 , Charlotte police announced that Henry had died at 6 : 36 a . m . ET at Carolinas Medical Center . Two days later , on December 19 , police confirmed that Henry died of blunt force trauma to the head . No charges were filed against his fiancee , and police announced that they found no evidence that Tonga drove recklessly or with excessive speed . To honor Henry , every game of Week 15 ( December 17 – 21 ) in the NFL began with a moment of silence before kickoff . " Our football team , what they ' re feeling yesterday and this morning . . . they watched a guy mature as a young man and work through adversity , " - Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis On December 20 , three days after Henry ' s death , the Bengals traveled to Qualcomm Stadium to face the San Diego Chargers . As with all the other Week 15 games , a moment of silence was held before kickoff . Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco , a close friend of Henry ' s , openly wept during the silence . Later in the game , on his first touchdown reception , Ochocinco dropped to his knee and paid tribute to Henry in the endzone . In June 2010 , the Brain Injury Research Institute of West Virginia University released a report that Henry had developed a brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy during his playing career due to multiple hard hits to the head . While several former NFL players had been found to have the disease after their deaths , Henry was believed to be the first still - active NFL player to have it . The discovery that Henry had CTE has become a serious issue of concern for football and brain safety , especially since Henry was relatively young and had never been diagnosed with a concussion in either his five NFL seasons or his college career at West Virginia . Concern has been raised whether an accumulation of lesser blows could eventually be enough to cause brain damage . It was also believed that the brain damage Henry suffered may have been a factor in his numerous off - the - field incidents . After his death , Henry ' s mother made the decision to donate his organs for transplant . Henry ' s corneas , lungs , kidneys , heart , liver , and pancreas were transplanted , saving the lives of four people .