HERKIMER, N.Y. (AP) -- HERKIMER, N.Y. (AP) -- Justin Strzelczyk, a former player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, died Thursday in a fiery head-on collision with a tanker truck after he led state troopers on a 40-mile highway chase during morning rush hour.
Strzelczyk, 36, was an offensive lineman with the Steelers for nearly a decade until the team released him in February 2000.
State police said Strzelczyk crashed his pickup truck into the westbound empty tanker just moments after swerving around a tractor-trailer that pulled across the highway to block the eastbound lanes. Strzelczyk drove 15 miles on three tires and a rim after one of his pickup's tires was punctured by metal spikes thrown into the road by troopers.
"It could have been so much worse. We're fortunate that only one person died," said Trooper Jim Simpson, a state police spokesman. "It looked like an airplane crash. There was quite a lot of diesel fuel spilled that was burning. The pickup was almost unrecognizable."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20.../bc.fbn.nflplayerkilled.ap/index.html?cnn=yes
Strzelczyk, 36, was an offensive lineman with the Steelers for nearly a decade until the team released him in February 2000.
State police said Strzelczyk crashed his pickup truck into the westbound empty tanker just moments after swerving around a tractor-trailer that pulled across the highway to block the eastbound lanes. Strzelczyk drove 15 miles on three tires and a rim after one of his pickup's tires was punctured by metal spikes thrown into the road by troopers.
"It could have been so much worse. We're fortunate that only one person died," said Trooper Jim Simpson, a state police spokesman. "It looked like an airplane crash. There was quite a lot of diesel fuel spilled that was burning. The pickup was almost unrecognizable."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20.../bc.fbn.nflplayerkilled.ap/index.html?cnn=yes
