Before Wednesday, few people outside New England knew Patriots backup linebacker and special teamer Darius Fleming. But that all changed after he pulled a woman from her car following a highway accident. Unable to open the doors, Fleming kicked in the windshield to save her, and in the process suffered a cut on his leg that required 22 stitches.
Initially quiet about his good-Samaritan act, once some of the players caught wind of it they made Fleming retell it to the entire team. The story ended up Facebook and then it took on a life of its own -- and that included accusations that Fleming had made the whole thing up, because there was no police report of the incident in the towns surrounding Foxborough.
Except that Walpole (Mass.) police had overlooked a report they had on record of a three-car accident that matched Fleming's description. In the end, Fleming was vindicated, but not before several hours of what-ifs, conspiracy theories, and even comparisons to Manti Te'o.
"I did something because I thought it was the right thing to do, not because I wanted any credit or anything," Fleming told ChicagoFootball.com. "That's not me, and that's not what I was looking for. It just kind of happened like that, and it was kind of upsetting to see some of the things that people were saying about it and that I was lying.
"It was just disappointing to think that people would think I would do something like that."
On Thursday, the Boston Globe's Ben Volin explained the series of events that led to confusion over the veracity of Fleming's story.
"I'm a small-time guy, so I'm not really big into the media," Fleming said, "but it was just funny to see how things can be misinterpreted and how people can run with things so fast without having all the details. ...
"I'm getting a lot of attention for this, but it's nothing that I don't think anybody else wouldn't have done if they had my position. I just happened to be there and see it, so that's all that is."
