nfl quaterback Roethlisberger seriously injured

autumn319 · June 13, 2006

Roethlisberger Is Seriously Injured in Motorcycle Wreck

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was not wearing a helmet when he collided with a car that was making a turn on Monday.

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By JOHN BRANCH

Published: June 13, 2006

PITTSBURGH, June 12 ? Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback for the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, had seven hours of surgery Monday for facial injuries incurred in a motorcycle accident.

Roethlisberger, 24, was not wearing a helmet when his 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa, which the manufacturer has called the fastest street-legal motorcycle on the market, collided with a Chrysler New Yorker that had turned in front of him as he rode through a busy intersection near downtown, the Pittsburgh police said.

Dr. Daniel Pituch, the chief of the division of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Mercy Hospital, said that the facial injuries were successfully repaired by a team of five surgeons. Roethlisberger was in serious but stable condition.

"His brain, spine, chest and abdomen appear to be without serious injury, and there are no other confirmed injuries at this time," Pituch said during a brief news conference at 10 p.m.

He did not take questions, and there was no comment from the Steelers on when Roethlisberger might be able to play again.

Various reports said that Roethlisberger had broken his jaw and nose, chipped or lost teeth and had multiple cuts on his head.

During the operation, a vigil of sorts ? reporters standing next to television trucks and fans, many in Steelers regalia, sitting in lawn chairs ? was kept outside the hospital. By early evening, a few fans outside the hospital began cooking food on a small barbecue.

Roethlisberger was a first-round draft choice of the Steelers in 2004. He won his first 13 N.F.L. starts as a rookie, then capped his second season by leading the team to a Super Bowl victory against the Seattle Seahawks in February. It was the franchise's first championship since the 1979 season.

Roethlisberger had conducted a morning radio interview and was headed home when the accident occurred, his agent, Leigh Steinberg, said in a telephone interview.

At 11:10 a.m., the police said, the car driven by a 62-year-old woman, who was not identified and who was not seriously injured, approached the intersection from the opposite direction and made a left turn. Roethlisberger's motorcycle hit the side of the sedan, throwing him into the car.

The police said that no decision had been made on whether charges would be filed and that the investigation could take weeks. The driver, who has residences in Pittsburgh and in Maine, according to the police, was questioned, as were witnesses.

Television trucks were soon parked outside the hospital. Family members, including Roethlisberger's stepmother, who was scheduled to film a Campbell's soup commercial with him here Tuesday, filtered in. His mother died in a car accident when he was 8.

By late afternoon, when it was widely reported that the injuries were serious but not life-threatening, an old debate ? over motorcycle helmets and the level of freedom that highly paid athletes should be afforded when it comes to potentially dangerous off-field pursuits ? was rekindled on local radio shows.

A little more than a year ago, Roethlisberger's admitted reluctance to wear a helmet while riding his Harley-Davidson created a local stir after Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. was injured in a motorcycle accident. Winslow tore knee ligaments and missed the 2005 season. Roethlisberger said at the time that he would continue to ride without wearing a helmet. Pennsylvania had a mandatory helmet law but repealed it in 2003.

In 2004, Roethlisberger signed a six-year contract worth up to $40 million, including a $9 million signing bonus. His base salary for 2006, according to the N.F.L. players union, is $655,500. Some N.F.L. contracts contain clauses prohibiting risky behavior like skiing or motorcycle riding, but Roethlisberger's deal apparently has no such language. Instead, coaches like Pittsburgh's Bill Cowher are left to lecture their players about assessing the risks of their off-field diversions, a discussion Cowher had with Roethlisberger after Winslow's accident.

"He talked about being a risk taker, and I'm not really a risk taker," Roethlisberger told reporters in May 2005. "I'm pretty conservative and laid back, but the big thing is to just be careful. I'll just continue to be careful. I told him we don't ever ride alone, we always ride in a group of people."

"It's a choice," Roethlisberger added, referring to his riding without a helmet. "I just get out there and relax, I don't try to take too many risks. I just go out and enjoy myself."

Herbie von Smalls · June 13, 2006

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