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• Hawaii News Now Video: Colt Brennan investigated for felony drug posession
Former University of Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan is facing possible drug and drunken-driving charges following his arrest late Wednesday in Kailua.
Police released Brennan, 28, without charges or bail at 12:15 p.m. Thursday but kept the investigation open.
The record-setting quarterback, who led Hawaii to an undefeated 2007 regular season before a loss in the Sugar Bowl, had moved back to Hawaii within the last month following his release in June from a Canadian Football League team, said his lawyer, Michael Green.
Brennan interviewed for jobs in Honolulu on Wednesday and was driving to Kailua, where he is living, when police stopped him just before midnight, Green said.
Green said the former star quarterback has been struggling to find a new direction after stints with four pro football teams were unsuccessful.
"If it’s not going to be sports, he has to find another life, and that’s something I don’t think he was thinking of a few years ago," Green said.
Police did not disclose Brennan’s alleged level of intoxication or the drug allegedly found.
COLT BRENNAN: THROUGH THE YEARS
JAN. 28, 2004
Brennan, a walk-on at the University of Colorado, enters a female student’s dorm room uninvited. He is acquitted of sexual assault and indecent exposure but is convicted of first-degree criminal trespass and second-degree burglary and sentenced to seven days in jail and four years’ probation. Colorado kicks him off the football team.
SUMMER 2005
After a conference championship season at Saddleback Community College, Brennan accepts June Jones’ invitation to join the University of Hawaii as a sophomore walk-on. He eventually earns the starting quarterback job in the fall.
2005-2007
Brennan has one of the best careers of any UH football player. He gains immense local popularity when he decides to return for his senior year instead of leaving early for a pro contract, then finishes third in Heisman Trophy voting as a senior after guiding UH to a 12-0 regular-season record and an appearance in the Sugar Bowl. Along the way he sets numerous school, WAC and NCAA records and earns first-team All-WAC honors in 2006 and ’07.
2008
The Washington Redskins select Brennan in the sixth round (186th overall) of the NFL draft. He signs a four-year, $1.8 million contract. He enjoys a strong preseason as a rookie but does not play in the regular season.
2009
The Redskins place him on injured reserve in September, marking a premature end to his second pro season due to a torn hamstring and hip injury that requires surgery.
AUG. 2, 2010
Brennan is released by the Redskins. Five days later he signs a one-year contract with the Oakland Raiders as a practice player, but is cut Sept. 4.
NOV. 19, 2010
Brennan is hospitalized in Kona with severe injuries when an SUV driven by his girlfriend, Shakti Stream, crosses the center line on Queen Kaahumanu Highway and collides with an oncoming Saab sedan. Its driver, Dr. Theresa Wang, is critically injured, is hospitalized with brain and spinal injuries for about eight months and continues to undergo rehabilitation. Wang sues Stream in January 2011. Brennan suffers injuries to his head, ear, collarbone and ribs, and later tells the Star-Advertiser it took him nearly a year after the accident to get "back to normal again."
JUNE 2011
In a comeback bid, Brennan signs a contract with the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League. However, Hartford folds in August before the first game of the UFL season.
FEB. 2012
Brennan signs a two-year contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League but is released June 11 before the team’s first exhibition game.
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While Green hadn’t seen the police report Thursday afternoon, he said Brennan took a breathalyzer test and that the results should be in the police report and may be released in court. He said he didn’t know whether Brennan had been drinking.
Police found a "couple substances" in the rental car Brennan was driving, but it wasn’t clear whether they were drugs or just looked like them, Green said. A lab test will determine their composition.
Police booked Brennan for investigation of driving under the influence and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug. The drug charge is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
It was not marijuana, for which the charge is the lesser offense of "promotion of a detrimental drug."
Dave Koga, a spokesman for the Honolulu prosecutor’s office, said police will turn over the case to prosecutors after completing their investigation.
If prosecutors determine there is enough evidence to charge Brennan, he will be arrested again. Koga did not have an estimate of how long the investigation might take.
Brennan was driving a rented red Chevy compact sedan toward Kailua when police pulled him over on Kailua Road near the Uluoa Street intersection.
Brennan was alone in the car, dressed in an off-white T-shirt and gray basketball shorts, a source said. He failed a field sobriety test, and police found a small quantity of drugs in the car, the source said.
Green said he has his "suspicions" on what police found, but would not speculate. He said the substance found was not in pill form.
Green said a police officer stopped Brennan for going 10 mph over the speed limit while Brennan was driving home to Kailua. Green also said Brennan told him he thought he had passed the field sobriety test.
The traffic stop drew a small crowd at a nearby 7-Eleven store and Aloha gas station. Some people pointed at Brennan and the officers.
Green went to the main police station in midmorning and said he met with Brennan in the cellblock.
"This is so sad," Green said after the meeting. "This is a guy who gave everything. … The best words to describe him now is that he is deeply sad."
In November 2010, Brennan was seriously injured in a head-on collision on Hawaii island. He was a passenger in an SUV driven by then-girlfriend Shakti Stream of Kona on Queen Kaahumanu Highway when the vehicle crossed the center line and collided with a Saab sedan. Brennan suffered a head injury, broken ribs and a broken left collarbone.
The driver of the Saab, Dr. Theresa Wang of Hawaii island, suffered traumatic injuries, including to her brain and spine, and 22 broken bones. She was hospitalized for about eight months and continued to undergo rehabilitation after her release. In January 2011, Wang sued Stream for damages related to the crash.
On Thursday a process server unsuccessfully tried to serve Brennan with a subpoena in Wang’s lawsuit against Stream. Ian Mattoch, Wang’s lawyer, said he has been trying to serve the subpoena to get a deposition from Brennan in the case. The process server, however, was not allowed in the jail Thursday to serve Brennan.
Green said Brennan is suffering from a brain injury sustained in that crash.
"There are psychological carryovers," Green said. "He’s had at least one major seizure. He had a brain injury. It’s still a part of his life." Green said Brennan is not taking any medication.
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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM