Since when don't we have value for human life! SMH Rest in Peace Chris Henry!

Chris Henry of the Cincinnati Bengals died on Dec. 17, 2009, after falling off the back of a pickup truck during what police are calling a domestic dispute with his fiancée. He was 26 years old.

MONTREAL – The National Football League is sending out the wrong message by asking teams to observe a moment of silence before this weekend's games to honour Cincinnati Bengals wide-receiver Chris Henry.

Henry's death this week was a tragedy, but all the evidence suggests Henry, who was once the poster boy for the National Felon League, was committing a criminal act when he was thrown from the back of a moving truck.

Police in North Carolina reported Henry and his fiancée were involved in a domestic dispute before she attempted to drive away. Henry jumped into the bed of the truck and a woman who called 911 reported he was banging on the rear window. "It's just crazy," the caller said.

If the police had intercepted the vehicle before Henry was thrown from the truck, there's a good chance he would have been arrested. And, instead of asking teams to honour Henry today, commissioner Roger Goodell would be suspending the receiver for the fourth time in his troubled career.

Domestic violence is a major problem in our society and Goodell's decision is an insult to every woman who has been a victim of spousal abuse.

In the hours after his death, much was made of the way Henry had turned his life around, but the hours before his death suggest he had stopped short of 180 degrees.

It was interesting to hear his college coach say Henry was never a problem. Except maybe for that time he was ejected from a game, or maybe the time he was suspended for another game. Henry was such a problem that he went from being a first-round draft prospect to a third-round pick.

During his NFL career, Henry was arrested five times in 28 months for assault, driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana possession, and he served multiple suspensions for violating the league's personal-conduct policy, missing a total of 14 games. He served jail time for drinking in a hotel room with underage girls.

After serving an eight-game suspension in 2007 for violating the league's personal-conduct policy, he was arrested again for assault in April 2008. He was waived by the Bengals, and a local judge told Henry: "You've kind of become a one-man crime wave."

The Bengals gave Henry, a second - or was it a fourth of fifth? - chance. They did so, not because general manager Mike Brown is a social worker at heart, but because Henry had talent. He played well for eight games before breaking his arm, but in the end he proved he was one tiger who couldn't change his stripes.