Dianna Russini was seen trying to get out of a traffic ticket in new body-cam footage.
In January, the former NFL reporter for The Athletic, 43, got pulled over by a police officer for using her phone while driving in New Jersey with her two sons. On Monday, June 29, Adam Herbets of Center Square shared the body-cam video showing Russini’s interaction with the cop on X.
In the seven-minute, 10-second clip, the officer approaches Russini’s vehicle and asks for her license and registration. Russini introduces herself as an NFL journalist who just broke a story about Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott being fired. She claimed she was sending a tweet about it before she was stopped.
“I’m an NFL reporter, and I just broke that Sean McDermott got fired from the Bills. And that I what I was just sending to send [sic], a tweet. I was gonna pull over, because I have to make calls. I know you don’t care, but I just wanted you to know my reason why,” she says in the clip.
The officer says, “Obviously you were on your phone for a while….I understand you’ve got a job.” Then, Russini says, “You know who I was on the phone with? Brian Daboll. He wants the job.”
Russini then asks the officer if he’s a Giants or a Jets fan. “I’m actually — I’m not a fan of either,” the officer replies. “What is your team?” Russini asks. “I’m a Vikings fan, unfortunately,” he says.
The sports journalist then shows him her phone, and a text exchange with Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. She also adds, regarding the Vikings, their “quarterback sucks.”
After going to his vehicle, the officer eventually returns and tells Russini, “I’m gonna cut you a break on the cellphone. I understand your job requires you to be on the phone a lot. Just try to wait ’til you get home, OK?”
In February, Russini was a guest on the radio show, Stugotz and Company, where she claimed she FaceTimed O’Connell, which helped get her out of the ticket.
“Do you want to talk to the coach? You should talk to the coach,” Russini said she told the officer as she recounted the incident on the show.
“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 got her out of the ticket by telling the officer, “You should let her go, she’s a good citizen,” Russini said. The podcast host, Jon “Stugotz” Weiner, laughed and said, “I wish I had that kind of access.”
Russini’s false claim was then recounted in an anecdote in a New York Times expose about her last week.
Two months after Russini made her false remarks on the podcast, the New York Times released photos of her with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel in a hot tub at a resort in Sedona, Arizona. The photos revealed the pair hugging and interlacing their fingers on a rooftop accessible only from one of the hotel’s private suites. They both were married to other people.
The Athletic paid Russini an annual salary of nearly $800,000, according to a former manager who was aware of her salary negotiations, making her one of the highest-paid journalists at the Times Company.
She was one of the faces of the sports publication, which the company bought in 2022 for $550 million as part of an effort to expand its reach into sports.
At the time the drama unfolded, The Athletic had discussed renewing her contract, which was set to expire at the end of June.
Her bosses initially supported her, claiming the photos lacked “essential context.” However, The Athletic began an investigation into her reporting.
Instead of waiting for her employer’s review, Russini resigned. In a statement, she said she stood by her journalism but had “no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept.”
Meanwhile, Vrabel said he would take accountability for the distraction the scandal caused to his family and is now working on his marriage, per TMZ.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
