police body cam footage of the traffic stop<\/a> now shows a different version of events going down \u2014 and that Russini clearly embellished the encounter.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe body camera video shows the stop playing out over a seven-minute and 10-second span and at no time does Russini FaceTime anyone, let alone an NFL coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What she did do, the video showed, was share that she had been texting with Vikings head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell and showed the cop the texts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The stop happened in Ridgewood, N.J.,\u00a0after Russini was stopped for using her phone while driving.<\/p>\n
Russini already appeared to know why she had been stopped when the officer approached her vehicle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m an NFL reporter, and I just broke that [coach] Sean McDermott got fired from the Bills. And that I what I was just sending to send, a tweet,\u201d she told the officer. \u201cI was gonna pull over, because I have to make calls. I know you don\u2019t care, but I\u2019m just letting you know my reason why. It was a work thing and it was an emergency for what I do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The officer notes that she had been on her phone \u201cfor a while\u201d before he stopped her and that he did \u201cunderstand you\u2019ve got a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patriots coach, Mike Vrabel, and reporter Dianna Russini at Ambiente Sedona hotel, Arizona on Saturday, March 28, 2026. \u00a9 Page SIx<\/p>\n
Russini does move the conversation back to football, telling the cop that she was on the phone with former Giants coach Brian Daboll and that he \u201cwants the job\u201d in Buffalo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After asking if he was a Jets or Giants fan and the cop revealing he was a Vikings fan, she then showed him the texts with O\u2019Connell.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini kissing and chatting at Tribeca Tavern March 10th 2020. \u00a9 Page Six<\/p>\n
She also said that the Vikings\u2019 \u201cquarterback sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually the officer lets her know that she won\u2019t be getting a ticket.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 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 \u2018til you get home, OK?\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Head coach Brian Daboll of the New York Giants is greeted by head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell of the Minnesota Vikings after the Giants defeated the Minnesota Vikings 31-24 in the playoffs. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
It would seem that while Russini\u2019s job did help her get a little goodwill, the story wasn\u2019t as dramatic as originally told.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ridgewood Police have also issued a statement from Chief Forest Ross Lyons about the encounter.\u00a0<\/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,\u201d he said in the statement to Pro Football Talk.<\/a><\/p>\nDianna Russini attends the 2019 ESPY Awards at Microsoft
Theater on July 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. WireImage<\/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":"Former NFL reporter Dianna Russini never FaceTimed an NFL coach to get out of a traffic ticket, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,10285,151324,42502,593,85,9274,365891],"class_list":["post-769339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brian-daboll","tag-dianna-russini","tag-mike-vrabel","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-sports-entertainment","tag-traffic-cops"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769339","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=769339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}