A New Jersey police chief has explained why Dianna Russini did not get a ticket for using her phone while driving after new toe-curling footage showed her name-dropping an NFL coach to avoid punishment.
In the bodycam video, Russini – who stepped down from her job at The Athletic earlier this year after being accused of having an affair with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel – is seen being pulled over by an officer on a snowy day.
After explaining that she was breaking the news that Sean McDermott had been fired by the Buffalo Bills, the sports reporter said she was also on the phone to former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll before asking the officer if he’s a fan of the Giants or Jets.
When he told her he is a Vikings fan instead, she showed what looked like a text exchange with Minnesota’s head coach, Kevin O’Connell.
The officer returned to Russini’s vehicle after checking her documentation before saying: ‘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 light of the new footage, Chief Forest Ross Lyons of the Ridgewood, New Jersey, Police Department revealed that his officer ‘exercised his professional discretion’ by issuing Russini a warning rather than a ticket.
A New Jersey police chief has explained why Dianna Russini did not get a ticket for using her phone while driving
Russini left her job as an NFL reporter this year over intimate pictures of her and Mike Vrabel
‘On January 19, 2026, at 9:40 am, a Ridgewood police officer conducted a motor vehicle stop on Godwin Avenue involving Ms. Dianna Russini for the use of a handheld cell phone while driving,’ Lyons said in a statement, via NBC Sports.
‘After following department protocol during the stop, and reviewing Ms. Russini’s driving history, the officer exercised his professional discretion and issued a verbal warning to Ms. Russini.
‘The use of officer discretion in determining whether to issue a warning or a citation is consistent with Ridgewood Police Department policy and longstanding practice. Police officers are encouraged to use their judgment and, when appropriate, provide motorists with warnings as part of the Department’s commitment to fair, impartial and community-oriented policing.’
Back in February, Russini revealed on ‘Stugotz and Company’ that she was pulled over by police weeks before for texting while driving with her two young sons in the car.
She claimed she told the officer she was using her phone because the Bills had just fired head coach McDermott and she was trying to report the news.
However, she also alleged that she managed to prevent a ticket by getting the head coach of the officer’s favorite team to speak with him on FaceTime, which the footage does not appear to show.
It is another desperately embarrassing episode for the former NFL insider, whose world was turned upside down by her affair scandal with Vrabel.
An investigation into Russini and Vrabel’s alleged relationship was published by the New York Times on June 24.
Footage shows Russini avoiding a ticket after appearing to show an officer – who was a Vikings fan – a text message exchange with Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell (pictured)
The sports reporter claimed earlier this year that she got O’Connell to speak with the officer
Not only did it detail how she was paid close to $800,000-a-year by the New York Times-owned Athletic before her career collapsed, but it also included comments from her that she wanted to remain private.
However, it also told the story of how bosses at The Athletic were unhappy with her for sharing the story of her allegedly using her relationship with O’Connell to get out of a driving ticket.
‘So he names the team [that he is a fan of] and I go, “Oh, I love that team. Do you want to talk to the coach? You should talk to the coach”,’ Russini claimed on the podcast.
She said she immediately FaceTimed the coach, who ‘played all into it’ and told the officer ‘you should let her go, she’s a good citizen.’
Russini admitted she was ‘desperate’ in the moment because ‘I don’t want to get a ticket. My husband is going to kill me.’
She continued: ‘I’m texting and driving. I shouldn’t be doing that I know that… I [called] a coach to get out of a ticket. Like what a nasty play but it worked.’
Danielle Rhoades Ha, a Times Company spokeswoman, called it ‘unacceptable conduct’, while it later emerged that Russini also never asked or received permission to go on that podcast, which was required.
Russini left her job at The Athletic, where she was one of the highest-paid journalists, just days after bombshell pictures emerged in early April of her appearing intimate with Vrabel at an adults-only resort in Arizona . Both are married with children.
