His death is being investigated by police, the city police commission, the community police review agency and the county district attorney’s office.
News writers, like AP in this instance, often seem to provide an update on cause of death at the end of article, even if there is no actual update, like this one, because they know that readers are also going to be looking for that pretty sought-after information, and it's worth it for the writers to leave the juicy bit at the end.
His former agent, Brian Murphy, issued a statement at the request of Martin’s family which said Martin privately battled mental health challenges that “profoundly impacted his personal and professional life.”
The writers included this passage because they knew that including details of Martin's mental health struggles would garner more interest. With the new knowledge of how CTE affects current and former NFL players, dangerous patterns of mental health deterioration among football players over time becomes evident in some cases. AP choosing to include this detail could be implying that Martin was struggling with CTE, without actually knowing if that information was true or not yet. However, it would require a little more context and understanding of the football and brain trauma world before reading the article, but I'd imagine that AP knew that most people who would read about the passing of a former NFL running back would be aware of CTE and its effects.
Police said in a statement that Martin was involved in a break-in and that a “brief struggle” happened as police were attempting to detain him. The department did not release any other details.
The article does not show what happened to Doug Martin, but rather uses police friendly language like "brief struggle" to explain how he ended up in custody in the first place, with no details of how he eventually died. The article also does not include why there might have been a break-in in the first place, or any key details that would provide some context into the developing story.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Former All-Pro NFL running back Doug Martin died after a struggle with police officers who were taking him into custody while they were investigating a break-in at a home in Oakland, police said Monday.
While the incident occurred in California, proximity to the event is not as relevant due to Doug Martin being known nationwide.
Former NFL player Doug Martin died after struggling with officers while being detained, police say
By introducing "Former NFL Player" into the headline, the writers are hoping to garner attention from people by using a public figure's fatal altercation with police, as opposed to a seemingly regular, ordinary police killing. Doug Martin being a fan favorite NFL player, from only a few years ago too for that matter, is likely going to draw a lot of media and fan attention from his death alone.