Photo: Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty
L.A. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford says he has apologized to a photographer who he didn’t check on after witnessing her fall off a platform during the team’s Super Bowl victory rally last week.
Three days after the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals atSuper Bowl 56, the team held a rally outside of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. During the festivities, photographer Kelly Smiley fell off the stage in front of Matthew and his wife, Kelly.
Aviral videoshowed the 34-year-old quarterback walking away from the incident while Kelly ran toward Smiley to check on her.
On this week’s episode of Kelly’s podcast,The Morning After,Matthew opened up about what happened and expressed regret about his reaction.
“There was a photographer who stepped off the back of the stage, and asked if we wanted a picture,” Kelly recalled of the accident, “and when she did, when she offered, she stepped back and fell. It was an awful, awful moment.”
“Matthew looked at me and said ‘check her,’ and turned around,” Kelly recalled, “I went straight to her and I could see she was O.K.”
Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty
Kelly said once she and Matthew were preparing to leave, he asked her to follow up with the team to see how Smiley — a photo editor for the NFL and the L.A. Kings hockey team — was doing. The next morning they found out she injured her spine in the fall.
“Yeah, I mean, that obviously happened really quickly and suddenly and unexpectedly, and wish I had a better reaction in the moment,” Matthew said of his reaction. “I didn’t. I apologized to her for that, but glad that all in all she’s doing all right.”
“So, one of those things you try to train your reactions to be a little bit better next time,” he said. “Other than that, it was a great day.”
The Staffords alsoofferedto pay Smiley’s medical expenses and replace her broken equipment. AGoFundMeto help pay for her medical expenses raised nearly $48,000 before it was paused.
“Life is about learning, and here we are,” Kelly said on the podcast.
The Rams' victory came after both the Los AngelesDodgersandLakerswere deprived of celebratory parades for their respective 2020 championship wins, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
source: people.com
