Family of Detroit Football Player Crowdfunds to Free Him From Jail in China

April 25, 2017

Detroit native Wendell Brown has been stuck in jail in Chongqing, China since last September after a fight broke out at a local bar. A GoFundMe campaign has been started by his family to help bring him back home.

The 30-year-old, who coached football in Chongqing, got into a disagreement with a group of locals during a night out with friends on September 24, 2016.

Brown’s friend Alexis Andrews told MichiganPreps.com that Brown had told her what happened at another bar after the incident, saying that the group became angry when he refused to party with them and one man apparently threw a bottle.

Brown said he fought back in self-defense, but he was the only one who was arrested after the incident.

“He told me everything that happened; how they were picking on him, and how they started off wanting to drink with him. When he was uninterested, they got upset, which is common,” Andrews said.

In 2015, Brown traveled to China to play for the Chongqing Dockers of the American Football League of China, and stayed on to help coach the team, Shanghaiist reported.

Brown, who has a 10-year-old son back in Detroit, previously played football in Canada and Austria.

According to MichiganPreps.com, he wrote a letter to his family, dated March 1, 2017:

To all my family whom I love throughout the continents of Asia, Europe, and North America: honor, praise, and glory to the most high (yah?) , through Yahshua Messiah for blessing me with such a beautiful band of people whom I can lean on in order to regain both focus and strength. I thank you for all that you are doing for me while I fight the toughest fight of my life! I know this battle is not physical, but spiritual, and I also know I’m not just fighting for myself and my family, but a multitude of people, and I’m more than grateful because you all have extended yourselves to be my crutch! Again, I thank you! I miss y’all so much.

What keeps me encouraged are all the memories we’ve been blessed to share with each other. The thought of us building more, and those that are even more beautiful got me fist pumping, like Arsenio! For real, I’m excited! But, some days I wake up and look around like wtf bro, you really in jail! And in China! And, no, Wendell didn’t go to China and try to turn thug! But being in here, in isolation, away from those I care for and who care for me, I think of all (0f) life’s luxuries that, to us, may not even be considered a luxury, like lotion, a comb, hot showers, a toilet, going outside, or even seeing and being around smiles and eyes that you know are pure and have no deceit behind them!

I think of so may things I’ve been blessed with my whole life that I’ve simply taken for granted. I’ve also been thinking about my life and where it’s been, where it’s heading, what mark do I truly want to leave, what defines me, what will the legacy of Wendell Brown Sr., actually be? And plainly, I just want to give; I want to give all things to my people. I want to give love, life, laughter, opportunity, experience and so much more! And when I say my people, I don’t just speak of my family and friends, but all children! All those I’ve encountered in my travels around the world, along with fulfilling my destiny, and life’s purpose, are two things I often pray for! I just want the right, you know? I don’t want to miss it or come up short, but (yah?) willing, I won’t. I know I won’t! Hallellyah.

I think of those in the bible who stood firm in their faith, and what came to be of them after their test. Since I know his ways, (his) thoughts are higher than mine. I know the road ahead is full of blessings, and not just for me, but for us! Halleluyah! And because I know the most high possesses so much power, and I know his spirit is living within out physical being, I’m convinced we are already victorious, and in more ways than one! Halleluyah!

I want to say so much more, but this letter is already pushing it. So again, thank you to all of you! Please continue to pray and send me your positive energy, and I will continue to do the same for you in return! I love you all to life! Grace, peace, prosperity, love, and abundance of blessings in the name of the most high God! Deuce, yo daddy loves you!

No further details regarding this case are available at this time, and it’s unclear why Brown is still locked up seven months after the incident or when his next court date is.

Brown’s family have opened a GoFundMe fundraising page to cover legal fees, raising nearly $2,000 of the $10,000 goal raised.

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