James Gary Brown, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer and son of Broward County Property Appraiser Lori Parrish, has died of suicide. He was 38.
Brown was pronounced dead at 7:51 a.m. Sunday morning at his home in Davie, according to the Medical Examiner's Office.
Brown had been battling drug addiction, an illness that apparently led him to a violent confrontation with Fort Lauderdale police in July. Officers tased Brown after he allegedly resisted them during a traffic stop. Officers found a small amount of cocaine in the car.
"This is a terrible thing for a mom to experience," Parrish told the Miami Herald at the time. "But I want my son to know that I love him."
A fundraiser for sheriff's candidate Scott Israel scheduled at Parrish's home yesterday afternoon was canceled. But this isn't about politics or government. It's about a family. And it happens to far more families than most of us know, since the media rarely reports on suicide or individual drug deaths. This morning, all of my sympathy goes out to Parrish and her family.
