Los Angeles Rams' Super Bowl-winning quarter-back Matthew Stafford has apologised for his reaction to a photographer falling over while trying to take a picture of him and his wife.
NFL snapper Kelly Smiley tumbled backwards off a platform during the Rams' victory parade, fracturing her spine in the incident.
Stafford's immediate reaction was to turn around and walk away from the situation, while his wife, Kelly Stafford, rushed over to check on the injured journalist.
Addressing the incident on an episode of The Morning After With Kelly Stafford podcast, the NFL star's wife said to her husband: “We can’t not talk about what happened.
"There was a photographer, who stepped off the back of the stage, had asked if we wanted a picture and I was like, ‘Yes,’ because looking back at my camera roll, I have literally zero of Matthew and I.
“When she offered, she stepped back and fell. And it was an awful, awful moment. Matthew looked at me and said, ‘Check her please,’ and turned around.
“We followed up with her, the moment we got in the car, Matthew actually looked at me and said, ‘Hey, will you contact the Rams, ask how she’s doing?’ Did that, they’re like, ‘We think she’s going to be OK.’ We sent her flowers. Next day we wake up, not OK."
"I do know that the reaction that the world saw in that split second, I do know that’s not what you (Stafford) wish would have been your reaction."
The former Detroit Lions man replied: “Yeah, I mean, that obviously happened really quickly and suddenly and unexpectedly, and wish I had a better reaction in the moment.
"One of those things you try to train your reactions to be a little bit better next time.”
The Rams and the Staffords said they would cover Smiley's hospital bills as she recovers from her injury.
