What is Going on with This 'Darius Fleming Saves a Woman From a Burning Car Crash' Story?

News spread very quickly this morning that Patriots linebacker Darius Fleming injured himself, requiring 22 stitches, while kicking out a window to save a woman from a burning car after she was involved in a three-car crash. The incident happened two days before the Patriots win over the Kansas City Chiefs last Saturday, but Fleming was able to play anyway.

Fleming described a harrowing scene:

Fleming then described trying to break through the window with his elbow, before kicking it in and rescuing the woman, who's name he did not get, but who he estimated to be in her 20s. This story went almost a week without being reported, which may have seemed suspicious, or not, depending on your point of view.

Apparently the Darius Fleming story stayed quiet because Fleming wanted it that way. Whether selfless or the Patriot Way, that's cool.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 20, 2016

Lovely.

Weird thing is, TMZ went to check into the incident—which according to Fleming happened "just north of a Dunkin' Donuts on Route 1" not far from Gillette Stadium—and local fire and EMS crews have no record of such an incident. On top of calling every Dunkin' Donuts on Route 1 in a five mile radius, TMZ also called the following entities:

- Massachusetts State Police (We spoke to reps for the state police and the Foxborough barracks)
-- Foxborough Police Dept.
-- Foxborough Fire Dept.
-- Walpole Police Dept.
-- Walpole Fire Dept.
-- Wrentham Police Dept.
-- Wrentham Fire Dept.
-- Norwood Police Dept.
-- Norwood Fire Dept.
-- Plainsville Police Dept & Fire Dept.
-- Sharon Fire Dept.

Not a single business or department has any record of this crash and "NO ONE had even heard about a crash matching Fleming's description" until Fleming spoke about it. Obviously, that doesn't mean it didn't happen, but three cars, one of which caught fire? A semi tractor trailer? An NFL player kicking in a car window in the Massachusetts sticks? And not a single report of anything?

This is at least a little strange, and smacks of another story of heroism that turned out not to be so heroic. Back in August of 2014, USC cornerback Josh Shaw was hailed as a hero after he told school officials he injured both of his ankles jumping from a balcony to save his nephew who was drowning in a pool. After a few days it turned out Shaw had actually jumped off the balcony to avoid police after getting into an argument with his girlfriend.

Maybe this is just a weird incident that fell through the cracks, or maybe we'll learn more about the Patriot Way in a couple days.

Update 4:25 p.m.: As word spread, local beat writers snapped into action and have tracked down an accident in the Walpole police department log—one of the departments TMZ reportedly contacted—that matches up some key elements from Fleming's story. It's a multi-vehicle accident, on Thursday evening on Route 1.

RE: Fleming. Here's an accident report on the Walpole police log. Multi-vehicle. Rt. 1 and Foxhill Rd. pic.twitter.com/gqbvJxFelJ
— Doug Kyed (@DougKyed) January 20, 2016

On Darius Fleming, per Walpole police log, there was a multi-vehicle accident last Thursday 4:19 p.m. on Rte 1 & Foxhill Drive, no injuries
— Chris Villani (@ChrisVillani44) January 20, 2016

Walpole police told me they will have a statement out regarding the accident soon
— Chris Villani (@ChrisVillani44) January 20, 2016

Update 4:49 p.m.: The Walpole police department released a statement referencing an unknown "good Samaritan" as well as a victim stating that "a male party 'kicked in my window, I think he was a patriot'." This was not noted in the report because it was a standard accident with no injuries. You can read the whole thing here.

[TMZ]