Rex Ryan appeared on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” ahead of the league’s Week 10 games, just days after he was arrested on six misdemeanor charges stemming from an alleged hit-and-run incident in Nashville.
Ryan took his usual seat on the panel to discuss football and did not address the arrest or the incident on air.
ESPN declined to explain publicly why the former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills head coach was allowed to appear so soon after his arrest. A network source told OutKick the decision was “based on a number of factors, which certainly includes information we have been able to gather and the conversations we have had since we became aware of the incident. We aren’t making it blindly.”
The source added that, with the matter still unresolved, “there is always a chance new information is available that would cause us to reconsider our decision.”
Ryan, 63, surrendered to authorities and was arrested Wednesday on six outstanding misdemeanor charges, a day after he allegedly struck two pedestrians, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. He was charged with two counts of leaving the scene of an accident, two counts of failure to give information and/or render aid, and two counts of failure to obey a traffic control signal.
Police say Ryan hit Michael Holland and his wife just before midnight on Nov. 5 as the couple crossed a busy stretch of Broadway in downtown Nashville. According to police, the pedestrians had a walk signal in their favor when Ryan, turning from 4th Avenue, ran over their feet and made contact with one of their legs. The two suffered minor injuries, police said.
Holland told the California Post that Ryan “almost killed” him and his wife with his pickup truck.
“If we had been six inches further out, I’d be in a hospital right now and so would my wife,” Holland said.
Holland said Ryan did not stop immediately after the collision, but that he and his wife were able to catch up with Ryan’s vehicle moments later at a stoplight.
“He decided he wanted to turn and didn’t care, and just ran over both of my feet, my wife’s foot and got her leg too,” Holland said.
Holland said Ryan got out of the vehicle, argued with the couple, then got back in and drove off. He told the newspaper he took photographs of injuries he says resulted from the incident. The source material does not explain how Holland and his wife were able to catch up to Ryan’s vehicle on foot after allegedly being run over.
As of now, ESPN has not removed Ryan from the air, and the network has indicated its position could change depending on how the case develops.
