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08/10/09 - Browning suicide attempt "was not a cry for help"
Junie Browning’s coach Shawn Tompkins says his fighter’s attempted suicide last night was a serious effort and not a cry for help. Browning has lost his UFC contract and faces three charges of battery as a result of incidents at a Nevada hospital following his admission.
Tompkins (pictured) tells Fighters Only he was altered by Browning’s ex-girlfriend that all may not be well with the fighter, so he went over to check.
"His friend and I went over to his place and got him. He was supposed to take one pill a day [of his prescribed medicine], he had taken between 16 and 20. We put him in the truck and drove him to the hospital right away where I admitted him immediately," Tompkins said.
"We noticed his mood and temperament started to change and he was becoming agitated and aggressive. He was moved into a room and the nurses explained they were going to have to pump his stomach.
“By the time we left and got to the end of the hall, there were police running down the hall. Apparently Junie struck three nurses and said something along the lines of, "Don't you know who I am? I will kill you and rape your family."
Tompkins understands Browning may receive a backlash for the words and his actions, but he does not believe it is deserved. "I can say that that's not Junie Browning, He can't take words like that back, but he took an excessive amount of drugs," he says.
Browning is charged with 3 misdemeanours of assault as a result of lashing out at the nurses and was dropped by the UFC this morning as a result. For Tompkins, that is the least of his concerns. He has taken the young lightweight into hios family home to care for him while he rebuilds.
Shawn said "He was released and will be here in my home with my wife and I and we will care for him. This was not a cry for help, Junie tried to end his life. People on the forums treat fighters like we're cartoon characters, but it's not like that, we are human. This is his life and I feel like I almost lost a son last night".
Gary Alexander
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