Lions Say They Will Waive Defensive End Reggie Rogers

PONTIAC, Mich. —  The Detroit Lions said Friday that they will waive defensive end Reggie Rogers, who faces trial on three counts of manslaughter after a traffic accident in which he suffered a broken neck.

Rogers, Detroit’s No. 1 draft choice in 1987, will be waived Wednesday, when the Lions open training camp at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., a club spokesman said.

The decision was based not on the felony charges against Rogers, who allegedly was drunk at the time of the Oct. 20, 1988 accident, but on the injuries he received in the crash, the spokesman said.

David Collon, the team’s orthopedic surgeon, examined Rogers in late June. Collon’s report said some of Rogers’ fractured vertebrae had healed but also noted continuing abnormalities.

“Also, the healing that has taken place has left the vertebrae in a slightly displaced position,” Collon said. “My recommendation is that, due to these deformities, it is not in Reggie’s best interest to continue to play football now or in the future.”

Oakland County prosecutors have alleged that Rogers, 25, was drunk when his Jeep sped through a red light and slammed into the car carrying three teen-agers. Rogers suffered two broken vertebrae and a severely lacerated thumb.

Killed in the crash were Kelly Ess, 18, and Dale R. Ess, 17, of Versailles, Mo., and their cousin, Kenneth J. Willett, 19, of Drayton Plains, Mich. The Esses were in Michigan visiting their grandmother.

Rogers’ lawyer, Elbert Hatchett, has requested a change of venue because of pretrial publicity. He said Friday that no dates for a hearing on that motion or the trial itself have been set.

Rogers is a younger brother of Cleveland Browns free safety Don Rogers, who died June 27, 1986, of a cocaine overdose.