Lawrence Phillips, a gifted running back who derailed his own career — and his life — with a series of violent criminal acts off the field, died on Wednesday in a hospital near Delano, Calif., where he was in prison. He was 40.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a news release that the suspected cause was suicide. Phillips had been found unresponsive in his cell at Kern Valley State Prison shortly after midnight, a department spokeswoman, Dana Simas, said.
He was serving a 31-year sentence for crimes including domestic abuse and assault with a deadly weapon — a car.