A recent New York Times story about former NFL insider Dianna Russini resurfaced an anecdote that Russini had previously shared on a podcast earlier this year. The story went like this: Russini was pulled over for texting and driving, and attempted to talk her way out of the ticket by telling the cop that she had only been texting because she was trying to break the news that Sean McDermott had just been fired by the Buffalo Bills. When that didn't work, she asked the officer who his favorite team was, and then FaceTimed the coach of that team. From the Times:
“I FaceTime the head coach,” she said, without naming him. “Head coach is in his office. He said, ‘What’s up?’ I go, ‘I just got pulled over and I just wanted you to meet my friend, Officer Joe.’”
The coach helped her get out of the ticket by telling the officer, “You should let her go, she’s a good citizen,” Ms. Russini said.
As it turns out, that's not what happened. Adam Herbets of The Center Square obtained the bodycam footage from the traffic stop in question, and it shows that Russini was embellishing quite a bit while relaying this story to her podcast pals.
The seven minutes of bodycam footage show that Russini was indeed pulled over for texting while driving, and was let go with a warning, but no FaceTiming occurred. After learning from the officer that his favorite team was the Vikings, she simply pulled up some text messages she had recently exchanged with Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell. Then the two engaged in a riveting conversation:
Cop: "Oh my god, KOC?"
Russini: "Look what I said to him, though, just now. Go to the bottom."
Cop: "Oh my god. Wow. Pretty cool!"
Russini: "KOC's awesome."
Cop: "Yeah, he seems like a good dude."
Russini: "Your quarterback sucks, though."
Cop: "Yeah, he's gotta fix it."
The Times reported last week that a review of Russini's work for The Athletic is ongoing. It's assumed that the brass is looking for evidence of possible ethical breaches in Russini's reporting that may have arisen from her relationship with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, but they may want to expand the scope to search for other instances of Russini making shit up to sound cool.
