jovan belcherThe autopsy released yesterday revealed that Jovan Belcher, the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker who shot and killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, before killing himself in front of his coach and general manager, had a blood alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit when this horrific incident occurred. Apparently, about five hours before Jovan killed Perkins, leaving their infant daughter to grow up parentless, cops found him sleeping in his idling car, and allowed him to head inside to a nearby apartment so he could sleep it off.

And naturally, now people are wondering if cops should have done more. Could this god-awful crime have been prevented?

It's hard to say, as it's such a sticky -- and emotional -- situation, but the short answer is: Probably not. How could police have known that this is what was going to happen when they left Belcher's presence? All they saw was an intoxicated person going inside to sleep. (Granted, a drunk person sleeping in an idling car shouldn't be taken lightly.)

The autopsy results revealed that Belcher's BAC was 0.17. The limit for Missouri drivers is 0.08. And most likely, Belcher's BAC was higher when he shot his girlfriend in their Kansas City home. This is unsettling to say the least. But apparently when cops found Belcher sleeping in his Bentley outside of his mistress' apartment, they told him to turn off his ignition, and he immediately complied. In fact, according to the police report that was released, the officers didn't even smell alcohol on Belcher (vodka?), and there were no signs of him being "violent or emotionally unstable."

So, what were they to do?

This is one of those incredibly sad stories that really will never have a clear-cut answer as to why, and we'll always be wondering if this somehow could have been prevented. Because it's just so awful. But at the end of the day, I really don't think police could have stopped this from happening.

What do you think of this?