This offseason has been a crazy one for the entire NFL, but for one reporter, Dianna Russini, it is one to forget.
Russini, a former Senior NFL Insider for The Athletic, has been part of a major controversy this offseason, which has led to her being out of the NFL world and to more stories coming out.
Dianna Russini’s Latest Controversy Could Have Been Considered Bribery
Recently, The New York Times wrote that Russini was pulled over for texting and driving when news of Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott’s firing broke. At the time she was pulled over, Russini was reporting the news, which is why she was on her phone while driving.
Also, according to this article, Russini then spoke to the officer, learned he was a fan of another team, and got the head coach of that team on FaceTime, who convinced the officer not to give Russini a ticket. For obvious reasons, this interaction was unacceptable for any reporter to engage in, and it seemed Russini used her connections to get out of a ticket.
However, it was recently revealed in newly released body-cam footage of the incident that there was no FaceTime, only texts. The officer said he was a fan of the Minnesota Vikings, and that was when Russini showed him texts between her and head coach Kevin O’Connell.
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Before the body-cam footage of the incident came to light, NBC Sports reporter Mike Florio, who used to be a lawyer, spoke on the legality of Russini’s interaction during this stop:
“There’s another angle to the story, which wasn’t mentioned by the Times and which I’m reluctant to bring up for fear of being dubbed a ‘narc.’ New Jersey has a very broad bribery law,” he wrote. “It also has a very strict law regarding texting and driving. For the first offense, it’s a $200 fine. The second offense results in a $400 fine. The third offense carries a $600 fine and a 90-day suspension of driving privileges.”
“Assuming this was a first offense (she said she’d been pulled over not long before the incident in question but the cop let her go because one of her kids was screaming in the back seat), $200 was riding on whether she could persuade the officer to not ticket her for something she apparently admitted to doing. Given her admitted habit of texting while driving, she would have been closer to losing her license for 90 days.”
“It’s one thing to use the power of persuasion to get a police officer to not issue a ticket. Giving him the chance to talk on the phone to the head coach of his favorite football team is another. That has inherent value.”
“How much? Well, how much would you pay to have the chance to FaceTime with the head coach of your favorite team?”
“The New Jersey bribery law doesn’t limit its application to situations where money changes hands. It uses the term “benefit as consideration.” A police officer getting a chance to talk to the head coach of his favorite NFL team would qualify as a ‘benefit of consideration” in exchange for the “exercise of discretion of a public servant.'”
“A Times spokesperson called the FaceTime-for-no-ticket situation ‘unacceptable conduct.’ And while the chances of Russini or the officer facing bribery charges are extremely slim, those who are following the story will now be even more curious as to which coach took the call and talked the officer out of exercising his discretion to give her a ticket.”
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With Russini admitting that she has been texting while driving and has done so in the past, there is already a baseline for what ticket she should have received. But, focusing solely on the legal perspective may exclude the bribery aspect considered in Florio’s quote above.
Russini is unlikely to face any charges now, as the body-cam video has helped her, but The Athletic’s investigation is still ongoing. Nobody knows how much the publication will reveal, as some details might hurt its own company, but similar to The New York Times’ report, it’s unlikely to help Russini’s case.
As for Mike Vrabel, his future with the New England Patriots appears secure unless Russini herself decides to reveal more details about her alleged relationship with Vrabel before the season starts.
