It was inevitable, we suppose, that someone would suggest Lions receiver Nate Burleson’s recent automobile accident was less about a dropped pizza and more about an increased blood-alcohol concentration. As it turns out, the suggestion originally came from someone who witnessed Burleson in the moments after the wreck.
Per TMZ, a driver who called 911 after the crash said Burleson “was losing his balance” and “appeared to be intoxicated.”
“If I had my guess, I’d say he’s drunk,” the caller said.
“I was completely coherent,” Burleson said in response. “I was trying to grasp what was going on at the moment. . . . My arm was broken so that may cause you to stumble, but it was not alcohol-related at all.”
Coincidentally (or not), Burleson has posted on his Instagram account photos of the crashed car and the pizza that caused it, explaining that “I’m releasing these pix for 2 reasons: 1) I walked away from a totalled vehicle #Blessed 2) I have to hear all the pizza jokes.”
Reseason No. 3 likely was/is that Burleson realizes people will think he may be the latest pro athlete to tell something other than the truth regarding the circumstances surrounding an injury, whether it’s tripping over a dog or slipping on a McDonald’s bag or any other explanation that ended up being something other than the real explanation.
The good news for Burleson is that it’s too late for anything to be done about the situation in a court of law, given that he wasn’t asked to submit to breath testing. The bad news for Burleson is that some in the court of public opinion will believe that there were more substances at work than cheese and pepperoni, regardless of what the truth may be.
The best news for Burleson is that, based on the pictures of the wreckage, the outcome could have been a lot worse than a broken arm.