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Former NFL Defensive Back Stanley Wilson Jr. Dies After Collapsing At Mental Health Facility

The ex-Detroit Lions player had several run-ins with the law for years after his pro football career ended.

Stanley Wilson Jr., a former NFL player with the Detroit Lions, collapsed and died at a mental health hospital Feb. 1, TMZ Sports reports. He was 40 years old.

Wilson had been in police custody following a vandalism arrest but was declared mentally incompetent for trial, according to the news site. Law enforcement officials transferred him from a county jail to the Metropolitan State Hospital in Los Angeles County for intake at the facility when he collapsed. No cause of death was immediately reported. Autopsy results are pending.

“Our thoughts are with Wilson’s family and all who were close to him,” the Detroit Lions said, confirming his death.

The Lions picked Wilson in the third round of the 2005 NFL draft out of Stanford University. He played three seasons for the Lions but suffered a career-ending Achilles tear in 2008. His father, Stanley Wilson Sr., played running back for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1983 to 1988.

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After his NFL career ended, Wilson had several encounters with law enforcement. The Oregonian reported that Wilson faced attempted first-degree burglary and other charges in 2016 after a Portland homeowner shot Wilson in the abdomen when he tried to break into the house through a backyard window. Wilson was found lying naked in a water fountain. He was also accused of burglarizing another house in the area that day. And in 2017, police arrested Wilson after he was found naked outside a stranger’s home.

TMZ reported that he was accused of breaking into a $30 million Hollywood Hills property on two separate occasions, most recently in August 2022. Wilson allegedly took a bath in the outside fountain with soap he found inside the house and caused $5,000 worth of damage.

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