Desmond Joel Marrow (born December, 28, 1987) is a former NFL and college football player who later became a personal trainer and started his own gym 3thirtyelite in Youngstown, Ohio. In April 2018 a video Marrow posted on Facebook of police slamming him into the ground and knocking him unconscious during an arrest went viral receiving more than 2,000 shares in one day. ^[1]

Desmond Marrow was born to Duane and Wanda Marrow in Youngstown, Ohio. His father played college football at the University of Wisconsin. His uncle, Vince, is a former Toledo Rockets Football’ All-MAC tight end and assistant coach.

Desmond Marrow graduated from The University of Toledo with a bachelor's degree in Communication in December 2010. He graduated with a second degree in Recreation in 2011. Marrow is also a graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown.

While playing football at Cardinal Mooney High School, Desmond Marrow was the Ohio Division IV “Co-Defensive Player of the Year,” during his senior season, after he caught 10 interceptions.

Desmond Marrow spent six years with the Toledo Rockets Football team at The University of Toledo. He was eligible for an extra two years because of injuries. He was fourth on the Rockets in 2010 with 68 tackles and tied for the team lead with three interceptions. In his final season, in 2011, he helped Toledo win the Military Bowl.

After his college football career ended, Desmond Marrow was seen as a possible late round NFL draft pick, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which quoted Wes Bunting as saying, “Marrow is the type of big defensive back you are willing to take a chance on late because of his athletic and physical skill set. The guy is raw and is going to need time to clean up his technique, but has the size/speed/fluidity to intrigue.”

The Chronicle’s Eric Branch wrote, “Think of Marrow as a poor man’s Chris Culliver, the 49ers’ third-round pick in last year’s draft who had a stellar rookie season.

Like Culliver, Marrow has excellent size (6-2, 208), impressive measurables (4.49-second 40 yard dash, 35 ½-inch vertical jump) and could be changing positions in the NFL.”

He was seen as a raw prospect who was hampered by injuries.

Desmond Marrow signed with the Houston Texans after going undrafted in 2012, but was released during the pre-season.

Desmond Marrow was then signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but again did not make the roster. He signed with the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos in 2013, but was released in 2014.

After pro-football, Desmond Marrow became a personal trainer and stared, 3thirtyelite a gym in Youngstown, Ohio. The gym offers both personal training and a variety of fitness classes.

On Thursday, April 26, 2018 a video Desmond Marrow posted on Facebook of police in Henry County, Georgia slamming him into the ground and knocking him unconscious during an arrest went viral receiving more than 2,000 shares in one day. ^[1] The arrest happened on December 2, 2017.

In April 2018, Marrow created a GoFundMe to raise money to help him recover from the incident and find justice.

The video starts with Marrow, who is handcuffed, being held on each arm by police officers in a parking lot.

Marrow moves and the officers shove him into a white pickup truck. As he is pushed against the truck by the officers, one holds his arm while the other lifts him up by the leg and drives him down onto the ground, apparently onto his face. Before he was thrown down, Marrow yelled to the officers, “I’m not even fighting back.”

As Marrow hits the ground, “I didn’t even do nothing to y’all,” as another officer joins in.

The man filming the video, whose name is not known, moves around to get a better angle, and says, “this is unbelievable,” as one of the officers puts his hand near Marrow’s neck and throat.

Marrow then says repeatedly, “I can’t breathe.”

The third officer tells him to calm down and the other officer moves his arm away.

The officers then begin to pull Marrow to his feet as the video ends.

In the Facebook post, Marrow explained that officers tried to say that he had a gun in his pocket, however, it was only a cell phone. He said that the police “knocked my teeth out, slammed me on my head and choked me out until I was unconscious. In addition I suffered a shoulder strain and a concussion.” He also said the video and arrest have made it a “very hard time,” for him and led to his wife leaving him, because of his “short comings and careless actions.” ^[1]

Marrow also explained that after police arrested him they held him in jail without bail. According to Marrow, however after police found out he was a former NFL player and that there was video of the incident they offered to drop the charges if he agreed to not share the video.

In a separate interview, Marrow revealed how terrifying the incident was.

“I was fully cooperating with the officers with ZERO resistance.

I thought I was going to die.

I was sure I was passing out or dying.”

On Friday, April 27, 2018 Henry County police announced they were investigating the arrest and that officer involved has been put on administrative duty.

“Although at the time of arrest an initial use of force review was conducted by internal affairs, earlier this month police Chief Mark Amerman ordered an internal affairs investigation to be conducted,” Henry County police Capt. Joey Smith said Friday afternoon.

“As of today, the officer involved is on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.”

According to a police Report dated Dec. 2, 2017 obtained by 11alive, the situation may have started as a road rage incident that escalated on Desmond Marrow's part.

The report states Marrow was driving on Jonesboro Road over I-75 (GA) when someone in another car threw a cup of coffee at his car. That's when Marrow reportedly started aggressively chasing after the car to a McDonough shopping center. An officer happened to witness Marrow driving aggressively and followed the car.

When the officer got there, Marrow and "several others" were in the parking lot apparently in the middle of an argument.

The officer asked if anyone had thrown any punches, then asked for Marrow to stop using profanity. While discussing with the officer, a witness apparently said he overheard Marrow say he was "going to shoot them."

By that time, other officers had arrived on scene.

Officers asked Marrow if he had a gun, and he told them no. One officer gave him a pat down, and no weapon was found. However, because of the alleged threats against others' lives, officers told Marrow they were going to arrest him. At that point, officers said Marrow refused to cooperate, and the struggle between he and the officers began.

Officers were eventually able to take Marrow into police custody where they charged him with making terroristic threats, reckless driving and aggressive driving.