An article on a “satire” sports website says that former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez escaped “prison” and broke into Tom Brady’s home, but it’s not real.
The story--from fake news website Empire Sports--was being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter on Friday.
“A massive manhunt begun in Dartmouth this morning as former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez escaped from the Bristol County House of Correction and Jail in Massachusetts, a county sheriff’s department spokesman said Wednesday,” it reads. “According to the spokesman Hernandez escaped from the jail some time during the night. The prison was unaware of his escape until early this morning.”
Empire Sports doesn’t have a clear disclaimer, but it only publishes fake news. Here’s a few article titles: “Cowboys QB Tony Romo Traded To Houston Texans For #1 Overall Pick,” which obviously isn’t true and not possible, and “Lebron James To Sign With Dallas Cowboys and Leave NBA After Season Ends,” which has no shred of truth to it.
The scenario of Hernandez escaping prison is impossible because he’s in jail--not prison--as he hasn’t been convicted of any crime. Hernandez is being held in jail on murder charges, stemming from the killing of friend Odin Lloyd last summer.
There’s also no local or national media coverage of Hernandez breaking out of prison and going to Brady’s home. If that were to happen, it would likely be prominently displayed on mainstream news outlets like CNN, ESPN, and Fox.
But Hernandez, who is being held on first-degree murder charges, was recently involved in a jailhouse fight with another inmate, according to reports on Thursday.
He was involved in an altercation with an unidentified male on Tuesday, reported CNN, citing the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office. Neither man was injured seriously in the incident.
ESPN reported that after the incident on Tuesday, Hernandez was moved to an isolated area in the jail. He’s essentially on lockdown 23 hours per day and eats meals in his cell.
“I’m not happy that there may have been a breakdown in our system, in our protocols,” Sheriff Tom Hodgson said, according to ESPN. “When we have failures, the first thing we look at and I look at is, number one, how did this happen? And number two, how do we make sure this doesn’t happen again?”
