NFL reporter and podcaster Tony Farmer says police records from Wyckoff, New Jersey, do not support claims that NFL insider Dianna Russini’s widely reported vehicle rescue took place there. Shocking, right? Yes, but the story is deeper than you think. The reporter added a new layer to a story that has been under scrutiny since May 2026.
Farmer shared the update on X, writing that the body camera footage he obtained came from the same Wyckoff Police Department involved in his earlier reporting on the incident. “This is from the same police department in Wyckoff, NJ, that I was able to obtain bodycam footage from for the accident Russini was supposedly involved in a ‘daring rescue,'” Farmer wrote.
He added that the footage contradicted the original account and said the story was changed less than four hours after he informed the original author that he had information he believed conflicted with the report.
However, Farmer also cautioned against drawing broader conclusions. “This doesn’t necessarily mean the incident didn’t take place. It just means it didn’t take place in this specific part of New Jersey,” he also wrote.
How the controversy began
The controversy dates back to April 2026, when the New York Post’s Page Six published an exclusive report by Oli Coleman claiming Russini had participated in a dramatic rescue after a Jeep overturned in suburban New Jersey.
According to that initial report, an eyewitness said Russini was lifted onto the overturned vehicle, where she helped rescue an elderly driver and the driver’s dog from the wreckage.
The story quickly gained national attention because it was published just days after Russini announced her resignation from The Athletic, where she defended her character and integrity amid separate public scrutiny. But Page Six later updated its reporting.
Roughly two weeks later, Page Six published a follow-up article by Coleman titled “Bizarre twist in Dianna Russini crash story as witness claims she didn’t save driver.”
The updated report cited a second witness who disputed the original account. According to that witness, Russini was present at the scene and helped by holding the dog’s leash, while the witness’s husband was the person who cut open the Jeep’s soft top and freed both the driver and the dog. However, the revised report marked a significant change from the original version of events.
Tony Farmer’s commendable reporting
On May 1, 2026, Awful Announcing reporter Matt Yoder published an article titled “New reporting casts Dianna Russini car crash heroine story into doubt.”
Yoder reported that Farmer had obtained the police report from the crash, noting that it did not mention Russini by name. The article also described Farmer’s correspondence with Page Six before the outlet published its follow-up story.
Farmer later shared additional analysis of photographs from the accident scene, arguing that aspects of the original rescue description appeared inconsistent with the physical layout of the overturned Jeep.
In the latest development, Farmer’s newest statement expands on his earlier reporting by saying that records and body camera footage from the Wyckoff Police Department do not indicate the reported rescue occurred within that jurisdiction.
At the same time, Farmer expressly stated that his findings do not prove the incident never happened, only that it did not appear to have occurred in Wyckoff. His comments leave open the possibility that a similar incident could have taken place elsewhere in New Jersey.
As of now, Farmer’s latest statement represents another development in the ongoing debate over the accuracy of the original rescue story. There has been no publicly reported official finding concluding that the rescue itself did or did not occur.