Before He Died, Ex-NFL Kicker Acted Strangely

Rob Bironas' wife reported him missing; other driver describes road rage
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 23, 2014 9:45 AM CDT
Before He Died, Ex-NFL Kicker Acted Strangely
In this Dec. 3, 2006, file photo, Tennessee Titans kicker Rob Bironas leaves the field after kicking a field goal to beat the Indianapolis Colts 20-17 in an NFL football game in Nashville, Tenn.   (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

On Saturday, the night Rob Bironas died in a car accident, the former Tennessee Titans kicker watched a movie at his Nashville home with his wife and a friend, drinking just one beer over the course of the evening, his wife says. He said goodnight to wife Rachel Bradshaw at 10:30pm and, Bradshaw thought, went to bed. But when she went to check on him a few minutes later, she couldn't find him, couldn't reach him by phone, and couldn't reach any relatives who'd heard from him. So she called police to report him missing, the Tennessean reports. Bradshaw said they were not arguing and that it was odd for him to leave without saying anything. And sometime between the time he left the house and 11pm, when the fatal crash occurred, Bironas engaged in even more strange behavior on the road.

At the scene of the accident, the woman who called 911 handed the phone to another woman, who told the dispatcher, "[Bironas] is dangerous, he is drunk or something. He tried to start a fight with us. ... I just want to tell the police there is something wrong with him. He is dangerous, he is drunk or he is on drugs. There is something wrong with him. He gave us a mean look. We don't even know him, and he tried to run us off the road." The next day, she and her husband told police that Bironas had tried to merge into their lane. "They said the driver swerved back, gave them a dirty look, and got behind them," then revved the SUV's engine at a stoplight before the couple eventually let him pass, a police rep says. He "accelerated away at a high rate of speed," the spokesman says, and a few minutes later, the couple came upon the crash scene. (More Rob Bironas stories.)

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