{"id":769188,"date":"2026-06-30T04:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T04:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769188\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T04:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T04:56:09","slug":"dianna-russini-cop-bodycam-footage-shows-no-facetime-to-nfl-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769188\/","title":{"rendered":"Dianna Russini cop bodycam footage shows no FaceTime to NFL coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Body camera footage has emerged of a traffic stop featuring former NFL journalist<\/a> Dianna Russini, and despite her story claiming that she got out of a ticket for texting while driving by letting the cop use FaceTime with an NFL head coach, there\u2019s no evidence of that in the video.<\/p>\n

Russini<\/a> bragged about the story<\/a> during a radio appearance earlier this year, and her former employer, The Athletic, also mentioned it in a recent article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Adam Herbets of \u00a0The Center Square<\/a> obtained seven-plus-minute video footage that shows Russini name-dropping her way out of a ticket, but never Facetiming an NFL coach (and never mentioning Mike Vrabel<\/a>).<\/p>\n

BREAKING \u2013 I have the bodycam video of Dianna Russini namedropping her way out of a ticket for texting while driving.<\/p>\n

She claimed she got off by allowing the cop to FaceTime with his favorite NFL head coach. This video shows something a little different.https:\/\/t.co\/HIUkgGh7Y0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Adam Herbets (@AdamHerbets) June 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you\u2019re not going to care; I\u2019m an NFL reporter, and I just broke that Sean McDermott got fired from the Bills,\u201d Russini told the officer. \u201cAnd that is what I was just sending to send, a tweet. I was gonna pull over because I have to make calls. I know you don\u2019t care, but I just wanted you to know my reason why.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, you were on your phone for a while\u2026 I understand you have a job,\u201d the officer said.<\/p>\n

Russini kept up the name-dropping of NFL coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know who I was on the phone with? Brian Daboll,\u201d Russini explained. \u201cHe wants the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the conversation continued, Russini asked the officer, \u201cAre you a fan of the Giants or Jets?\u201d<\/p>\n

The officer explained that he\u2019s not a fan of either team, but rather the Minnesota Vikings, \u201cunfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russini roceeded to show the officer her phone, featuring a text conversation with Minnesota head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my god. Wow. Pretty cool,\u201d the officer responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir quarterback sucks,\u201d Russini added.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, I\u2019m going to cut you a break<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, I\u2019m gonna cut you a break on the cell phone,\u201d the officer said later. \u201cI understand your job requires you to be on the phone a lot. Just try to wait until you get home, okay\u2026 Keep me updated with the Vikings, okay? Let me know if KOC\u2019s going to get a new quarterback.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with that footage and report emerging, the Ridgewood (NJ) Police Department issued the following statement about the officer not issuing a ticket to Russini (via Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter following department protocol during the stop, and reviewing Ms. Russini\u2019s driving history, the officer exercised his professional discretion and issued a verbal warning to Ms. Russini.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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\u2019s commitment to fair, impartial and community-oriented policing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Body camera footage has emerged of a traffic stop featuring former NFL journalist Dianna Russini, and despite her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,151324,42502,593,85],"class_list":["post-769188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dianna-russini","tag-mike-vrabel","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}