CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill head football coach Mack Brown spoke publicly Monday for the first time about a recent deadly crash in Chapel Hill that killed a 20-year-old student.
Brown said three UNC players involved in the deadly crash will participate in spring practice with the team.
The crash killed student Molly Rotunda and left three others hurt.
The wreck happened on Jan. 21 near the corner of East Barbee Chapel Road and Stancell Drive, which is about 10 minutes away from campus. Ten people in total face charges, including UNC football players Zach Rice, Travis Shaw and Malaki Hamrick.
Rice pleaded not guilty to underage drinking and driving earlier this month. Rice was not driving the vehicle in which Rotunda was a passenger. Court documents say he was following closely behind in a separate vehicle just before the wreck.
Court records say Rotunda was a passenger in a vehicle driven by 20-year-old Flameeja Brewer. Investigators said she was traveling 124 miles per hour in a 45-mile-per-hour zone when the crash occurred. Brewer is facing several charges, including felony death by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter.
Brown said he will wait for the justice system to run its course before making any final decisions.
“In my 36 years as a head coach, I learned that I’m not supposed to be the investigator, because then it can be tampering,” he said. “And legal issues are very serious. So, I never get into details with the kids. I get into nothing ever happens good after midnight. You shouldn’t do this, you shouldn’t do that. And I don’t ask them what you did. That’s for the investigators to ask. And then you move forward.”
Brown also said the players would face some degree of discipline once the process plays out.
“There will be some discipline from us,” Brown said. “There may be more depending on the outcomes. But the legal process will take its course, and then we’ll be told what they find after that. And other than that, we pretty much stay out of it. And hopefully, anytime there’s something that comes up like this, the most important thing is they learn from it. That’s the most important thing.”
“And I try to treat them in all cases like I would treat my sons,” he added “We have to be careful that in modern-day media, especially with Twitter, we can move too fast. And we can try a case before people are guilty. And I think that’s awful … because we’re all waiting to see. And if they didn’t do anything wrong, then that’s why we have a legal system to determine that. Not me and not you, really.”