Posted on 09/03/2009 2:23:25 AM PDT by South40
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) -- John M. Stephens, the 1988 Offensive Rookie of the Year for the New England Patriots, has been killed after his pickup truck ran off a highway and struck some trees, authorities said Wednesday.
Stephens, 43, apparently lost control of his vehicle on a rural stretch of Louisiana Highway 169 near Shreveport on Tuesday evening, the Caddo Parish Sheriff's office said.
Stephens wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was thrown after the truck hit some trees head-on, sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Chadwick said in a statement.
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Rule #1. A tree is much stronger than a blocking dummy!
sad ping
Sad indeed. He and Doug Flutie flourished during 1988. That was the last good Pats team before the Parcells era.
HWY 169 isn’t really ‘near’ Shreveport. It is about 20 miles west, near the TX border. It is a very curvy rural road with no shoulder...but I don’t see how offing yourself due to your own carelessness is really a loss. Drive so fast that you lose control and run off the road? Sounds like a self limiting problem.
RIP.
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