NFL reporter rescues man from car hours after resigning amid investigation

A day after resigning from the Athletic amid an internal investigation into photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, NFL reporter Dianna Russini rescued an older man and a dog from an overturned car in New Jersey.

Russini’s actions in the aftermath of a car crash on Wednesday in Wyckoff, New Jersey, were confirmed by a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Page Six on Friday first reported on the wreck and Russini’s intervention, 10 days after the celebrity news outlet exclusively published the photos of Russini and Vrabel.

According to the town’s Patch news site, a 17-year-old behind the wheel of a Honda Civic collided with a Jeep, driven by a 73-year-old, on a Wyckoff street at about 5pm on Wednesday. The Jeep flipped onto its side, leaving the driver and dog accompanying him trapped inside.

Russini happened to be driving behind the Jeep; photographs of the scene show both cars sustained a noticeable amount of damage.

She stopped, got help climbing atop the side of the Jeep and opened its door. Russini then worked with another bystander to pull the driver and the dog out of the wrecked Jeep, as Page Six reported, citing an unidentified witness, and which the Guardian’s source confirmed was accurate.

The Jeep driver was reportedly taken to a local hospital for head and shoulder pain. The dog appeared to be in good health and was subsequently turned over to a friend of the Jeep driver, the Wyckoff Patch site reported.

The Honda driver was uninjured, police told the Patch outlet.

Police also reportedly said that no traffic citations were immediately issued, and the crash remained under investigation.

The Guardian has reached out to Russini for comment.

Wednesday’s events served as a bookend to a dramatic, 26hr period that began with Russini resigning from the New York Times-owned sports outlet the Athletic.

Russini resigned on Tuesday as the Athletic conducted a standards-related review of her work after Page Six published photos of her and Vrabel at an Arizona resort.

Page Six said the photos were taken before NFL owners’ meetings that began in Phoenix on 29 March. Russini and Vrabel, who are married to other people, have maintained that the photographed interactions were platonic and taken out of context. The Athletic said Russini then resigned in the middle of an investigation into questions about her coverage of Vrabel and the nature of their relationship.

“I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published,” Russini wrote in a resignation letter. Nonetheless, she also wrote, she was being subjected to “self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts” and did not have any “interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept”.

“I [resign] not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career,” Russini wrote.

Russini had been at the Athletic since 2023, hosting a podcast for the outlet and appearing on its video platform.

She had previously been at ESPN for nearly a decade holding various roles, including SportsCenter anchor as well as NFL analyst and insider.