Alcohol Aggravated Blades’ Fight Conflict Between Brothers Ignited By Bennie’s Feud With Ex-Girlfriend

All was fun the night of July 4 for brothers Brian and Bennie Blades - both NFL players - and their cousin Charles Blades, out for a round of partying.

The day had been spent at a family picnic. Beer had been part of the Independence Day fare. Then the holiday evening arrived.

Driver Mike Asher picked them up in a limousine at Brian’s and Bennie’s nextdoor townhouses in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Plantation. That was at 10:30 p.m., Asher said Tuesday, testifying in Brian Blades’ manslaughter trial for the shooting death of Charles Blades that night.

Brian Blades, 30, is a receiver with the Seattle Seahawks; Bennie Blades is a safety with the Detroit Lions.

But by midnight, the group was back in Plantation, in front of Bennie Blades’ townhouse.

They’d returned because Carol Jamerson - Bennie’s former girlfriend and the mother of his 3-year-old daughter Amber - was there, and she was angry. She wanted to discuss who would be taking care of their daughter through the rest of the holiday weekend.

Bennie argued with Carol, shouting, and Brian stepped in to keep the peace.

“Brian was telling Bennie to go inside, that he’d take care of it,” Asher recalled.

But Bennie rejected his older sibling’s efforts, and the two ended up in a shoving match that left Brian on the ground.

Brian Blades “said he was going to show (Bennie). He was going to get his gun and shoot him. He went in the direction of his townhouse,” Asher testified.

Asher said Brian Blades appeared to be talking to himself - or to no one in particular - when he made the threat about getting a gun.

But Charles Blades, 34, clearly drunk, followed Brian to Brian’s nearby home, trying to make peace between his cousins, Asher said. Charles Blades had an blood alcohol level of 0.25, testified Dr. Lance Davis, of the Broward medical examiner’s office. Florida’s legal limit is 0.08.

Charles Blades died of a single gunshot wound suffered a short time later in a scuffle with Brian over a handgun.

Brian could face up to 10 years in prison, if convicted on the manslaughter charge in the trial being heard by Circuit Judge Susan Lebow.

Prosecutors have portrayed Charles Blades’ shooting as an act of anger that merits punishment. The defense called the death of the professional athlete’s cousin “a tragic accident.”