Former NFL player Junior Siavii dies in prison awaiting trial
Former NFL player Saousoalii “Junior” Siavii, who played for the Dallas Cowboys and the Kansas City Chiefs, is dead after he was found unresponsive in a Kansas federal prison this week.
Siavii, 43, was found unresponsive at about 2:35 p.m. local time Thursday at medium-security U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, where he was transferred on Dec. 17 to await trial for federal drug trafficking and illegal firearm possession charges, U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Anna Armijo told The Kansas City Star in a statement.
Prison staff treated Siavii who was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the outlet. No cause of death has been given.
No staff or other inmates were hurt and “at no time was the public in danger,” Armijo told the paper in the statement.
American Samoa-born Siavii ended his time as a Chiefs defensive tackle due to knee injuries and had a one-year stint playing for the Cowboys before a year with the Seattle Seahawks, where he suffered a career-ending spinal cord injury.
He was arrested in the summer of 2019 on suspicion of illegal firearms possession and was later named in a criminal indictment as playing a role in a methamphetamine drug trafficking conspiracy, in which he was charged alongside eight others, according to the paper.
“RIP to my uso college and pro teammate Junior Siavii ,” former Chiefs wide receiver Samie Parker tweeted Friday.
