Briggs: I panicked
After losing control and crashing his 640-horsepower Lamborghini Murcielago, Bears linebacker Lance Briggs said he panicked.
"I didn't want there to be a big scene there, so I left the scene," Briggs told reporters in a brief statement following Tuesday afternoon's practice.
"When I left, I called the tow truck. I also was startled and I called and reported my car stolen," Briggs added. "Within probably 10 minutes I called back, and I accepted responsibility for what I did because it was ridiculous in the first place. That's what happened. I lost control of my car. I'm happy that no one was injured in the incident."
One news report listed the value of the special-edition car at $600,000, although some models start at $350,000.
Briggs has been cited for leaving the scene of an accident, a misdemeanor, and ticketed for failing to immediately notify police of a crash and for improper lane usage. He has an Oct. 4 court date in Skokie.
Illinois Police found the abandoned vehicle, which had hit a light pole and a concrete bridge support, alongside the Edens Expressway near Devon Avenue on the city's North Side around 3:15 a.m. Considering the mangled state of Briggs' luxury roadster, he considers himself fortunate to have escaped unscathed, and it's given him a different outlook on life.
"I'm very lucky to have made it out the way that I did," Briggs said. "It did change me, absolutely. Appreciate every day. The first thing I did when I got back here (to Halas Hall) was hug every one of my teammates and tell them that I love them because you never know what's going to happen."
The commotion over the Briggs crash is the latest in a long list of off-the-field incidents that have distracted the NFC champion Bears as they prepare for another run at the Super Bowl.
"Any time you have to talk about something besides football it's a distraction," coach Lovie Smith said. "But that's a part of life. You have to deal with those things. I want our football team talking about their teammates; what they're doing on the football field, instead of talking about things off the field. As long as we're talking about something else instead of football, yeah, it can be (a distraction)."
Asked to comment on an NBC-TV Ch. 5 report that Briggs had visited two clubs before crashing his car, Smith said: "I deal in facts right now. Hearsay, I don't go on a lot of that. The facts haven't come out to me that way."
Briggs, who created headlines when he boycotted off-season activities and threatened to sit out this season to protest his designation as the team's "franchise" player, apologized for the latest distraction.
"I just want to take this moment to just really say Ȣ₈¬Ã‹Å“Sorry,' to my teammates," Briggs said. "Because it's unfair for them to have to go through all of this and be questioned for something they had nothing to do with, and also my coaches and my family and all that because everybody's getting a lot of phone calls and a lot of people are worried and concerned. If there's anybody I haven't let know that I'm OK, and everything is all right."
With the NFL cracking down on off-the-field indiscretions, though, even misdemeanors will come under scrutiny.
"We'll look into it," said NFL vice president of public relations Greg Aiello, regarding disciplinary action from the league "but there is no timetable."
"Every time (there's) any misdemeanor or anything where the authorities are involved, the NFL, I assume, will look into it," Smith said. "Just like we are."