Cab driver charged with manslaughter, distribution in Aaron Douglas? death

In something of a surprise twist, the Fernandina Beach (Fla.) Police Department has announced the arrest of a 50-year-old man, Rodney Young Odum, in connection with the death of former Tennessee and Alabama offensive lineman Aaron Douglas earlier this year. Odum, a cab driver who allegedly delivered Douglas to a party where he was later found dead in May, is charged with manslaughter and sale / delivery of a controlled substance (Methadone). He was being held in Nassau County jail on $50,000 bond.

According to witnesses cited in police press release the morning after his death, Douglas, 21, was en route to Jacksonville after dinner with friends on May 11 when he was "contacted by two local women" who invited him to a party in nearby Fernandina Beach. He arrived by cab ? reportedly driven by Odum ? between 11 and 11:30 p.m. and was seen at the same address as late as 2 a.m. on May 12. A male resident reportedly found Douglas on the second floor balcony when he and others awoke a few hours later. Emergency responders pronounced him dead at the scene. Four residents of the house were later charged with allowing at least 16 minors under the age of 21 (not including Douglas) to consume alcohol and/or narcotics at the party.

In today's press release, police say Odum sold Douglas two Methadone pills during the cab ride. An autopsy report released in June reportedly showed multiple drugs in Douglas' body at the time of death, including Methadone and Diazapram, used to treat anxiety and nervousness. Today's release also mentions "trace amounts" of Carisoprodol, Meprobamate, Nordiazepam, Oxycodone and Cannabinoids, though "the Methadone alone was sufficient enough to cause death, while no other combination would have likely caused death."

A few months before his death, Douglas was arrested for DUI in his native Blount County, Tenn., shortly after signing with Alabama in December. Prior to that, in May 2010, Douglas told the News-Sentinel he asked for a release from Tennessee following a promising freshman campaign in 2009 because he had become depressed and anxious over following in the footsteps of his parents, both former Volunteer athletes themselves.

"Until I asked for my release I was real stressed out because I just thought about all the family history," Douglas said then. "Ever since I committed to Tennessee, I felt like I had this pretty good mapped-out plan of what my future was going to consist of. I felt like the plan just got flipped upside down."

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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