Reports: Rob Bironas tried running two vehicles off road before crash

Former Tennessee Titans kicker Rob Bironas attempted to run at least two vehicles off the road while speeding and driving erratically Saturday night before crashing to his death, multiple media outlets are reporting.

In one of the alleged incidents, Bironas verbally threatened four Belmont University students who were riding in a white pickup truck around 10:30 p.m. that night, soon after his wife had reported her husband missing and near the location where Bironas died, according to the Nashville Tennessean.

“His window was down, and we pulled up and I said, “Hey man, just a heads up, something’s burning from your exhaust. Your exhaust smells horrible, just wanted to let you know,’’ truck passenger Connor Fraley, 20, told the Tennessean. “He looked over at me and said “I’m going to kill everybody in your ... vehicle. It was so random, so bizarre I was like, “‘What?’ And he said the exact same thing again.”

Fraley said the white SUV chased them and at one point “he tried to sideswipe the vehicle and missed us by a foot.” He added that they had to drive 110 mph to get away.

According to Fraley, he talked to a 911 dispatcher as the incident occurred and the four students met with police later that night. The Tennessean says the driver gave a near-identical account but wouldn’t give his full name.

Fraley saw a picture of Bironas the next day. “As soon as I saw that face,’’ he said. “I know for a fact that it was Rob Bironas in that vehicle chasing us.”

Another woman reported an apparent encounter with Bironas during a 911 call at 11:03 p.m., just after Bironas’ crash. She, too, said the driver of a white SUV tried to run her and her husband off the road. Police have said there was no evidence of alcohol or drugs at the scene.

“He is dangerous, he is drunk or something. He tried to start a fight with us,’’ the woman said. “I just want to tell the police there is something wrong with him. He is dangerous, he is drunk or he is on drugs. There is something wrong with him. He gave us a mean look. We don’t even know him, and he tried to run us off the road.”

According to Metro police spokesman Don Aaron, the couple said Bironas initially tried to merge into their lane.

“They said the driver swerved back, gave them a dirty look and got behind them and was behind them at the intersection on Franklin and Battery,’’ Aaron said. “At the stoplight of Franklin and Battery, they said the white SUV was revving its engine behind them.”

Eventually they pulled over to let the SUV pass them, but instead the driver just stared at them until the woman’s husband got out of the car.

“Then the white SUV accelerated away at a high rate of speed,’’ Aaron said. “They paused a few moments, continued traveling on Battery Lane and came upon the crash.”

Bironas’ wife, Rachel Bradshaw, said her husband wasn’t intoxicated, although she had seen him drink a beer earlier that evening.

Bradshaw told police she had assumed Bironas went to bed after kissing her goodnight around 10:30 but got worried when he was nowhere to be found moments later. She told the officer “it was highly unusual behavior for him to leave without telling her,” according to WKRN-TV in Nashville.