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The parents of the late Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins say they will skip his funeral services in Pittsburgh on Friday after he was fatally struck on a Florida highway earlier this month, saying they’ve never met his widow and do not wish to under those circumstances.
‘We have never met or spoken to the wife, and we didn’t want our son’s funeral service to be the place we met her for the first time,’ Dwayne Sr. and Tamara Haskins said in a statement, referring to their son’s widow, Kalabrya Gondrezick-Haskins.
The Haskins family will still honor their late son at a memorial service in his native New Jersey on Saturday and then again on Sunday in Potomac, Maryland, according to Scott Abraham of Washington DC‘s ABC affiliate.
DailyMail.com’s attempts to reach Dwayne Sr. and Tamara Haskins have been unsuccessful.
Haskins and his widow were married in March of 2021, according to what they told Las Vegas police in July of last year when Gondrezick-Haskins was arrested following an altercation with her husband. Haskins reportedly lost a tooth in the incident and suffered ‘substantial’ injuries, according to KTNV.com.
Gondrezick-Haskins charged with battery and domestic violence resulting in bodily harm, but that charge was ultimately dropped and the couple quickly reconciled. Soon after, Haskins posted a picture on Instagram showing the couple kissing as Gondrezick-Haskins held up a diamond ring on her hand.
‘Couldn’t make you wait forever, for forever,’ read Haskins’s caption, quoting a song by Wale.
The two were reportedly in Las Vegas in July of 2021 to renew their vows.
Former Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier, a teammate of Haskins’s at Ohio State, and ex-Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer, Haskins’s head coach with the Buckeyes, both attended Friday’s memorial in Pittsburgh.
SCROLL DOWN FOR 911 CALL
Dwayne Haskins Jr. (center) pictured with his parents, Dwayne Sr. and Tamara, in 2019
Haskins and his widow (right in July of 2021) were married in March of 2021, according to what they told Las Vegas police in July of last year when Gondrezick-Haskins was arrested following an altercation with her husband. Haskins reportedly lost a tooth in the incident and suffered ‘substantial’ injuries, according to KTNV.com. Gondrezick-Haskins (mugshot left) charged with battery and domestic violence resulting in bodily harm, but that charge was ultimately dropped and the couple quickly reconciled. Soon after, Haskins posted a picture on Instagram showing the couple kissing as Gondrezick-Haskins held up a diamond ring on her hand
Dwayne Haskins (right) and Kalabrya Gondrezick-Haskins (left) were married in March of 2021
Haskins, 24, was struck by at least two vehicles when he was killed along a Florida highway in the early hours of April 9, it was revealed Wednesday. Previously it was reported that a single dump truck struck the quarterback on the highway, but he was also ‘partially’ struck by a Subaru Outback, according to Florida Highway Patrol’s crash report that was provided to DailyMail.com.
Both drivers stopped immediately after striking Haskins, according to investigators. Neither driver was tested for drugs or alcohol. FHP investigators determined that Haskins was improperly in the roadway and did not find the drivers culpable.
It remains unclear what Haskins was doing walking along a highway near the Fort Lauderdale airport and an FHP investigation is ongoing.
One possible clue comes from a 911 call made by Haskins’s wife, Kalabrya, who told the operator that her husband’s car was stranded and he was setting out on foot to look for a gas station.
In a panicked 911 call, provided to DailyMail.com, Kalabrya says she is calling from Pittsburgh about 10 minutes after speaking with her husband on April 9.
She explained that Haskins told her he was stranded on a highway in Broward County, Florida and was walking to find gas. He allegedly told Kalabrya that he would call her when he was finished, but she never received a call.
According to investigators, the dump truck struck Haskins in the center lane of the highway, sending him into the path of the Subaru, which hit him in the left-hand lane. Both drivers stopped immediately after striking Haskins, according to investigators. Neither driver was tested for drugs or alcohol. Investigators determined that Haskins was improperly in the roadway and did not find the drivers culpable
Kalabrya Haskins and Dwayne Haskins pictured on Instagram before his death on April 9
Witness Chris Stanley says he saw cars veer to the side to avoid hitting a man who was walking into traffic with his arms slightly raised. Authorities are still investigating the crash
STATEMENT FROM HASKINS’S PARENTS
The following is a statement from the parents of Dwayne Haskins Jr., Dwayne Sr. and Tamara, following the death of their son:
‘We have had such an overwhelming outpouring of love for our son since the news broke of our loss. Anyone who knew Dwayne knows he worked exceptionally hard to achieve such a high level of success at such a young age. He was touched by so many people on his journey to being a standout athlete and we are grateful to all of them. This pain is unimaginable and we appreciate everyone who shares in our heartbreak.’
The Haskins family pictured at the Bullis School (New Jersey) senior night in 2015
‘He said he was going to call me back after he finished putting the gas in,’ she told the 911 operator.
‘I kept calling and kept calling,’ Kalabyra continued. ‘He wasn’t answering. Eventually, after 10 minutes of calling the phone, eventually it cut off. It’s not working now. I had his location. I just want somebody to go in the area and see if his car is there and if he’s OK and if anything happened to him.’
It’s not known, publicly, if Haskins’ car was out of gas when it was recovered.
A short time later, the operator told Kalabrya that there was a collision in the area.
‘I don’t want you to panic, but I’m going to be honest with you,’ the dispatcher said. ‘We do have an incident on the highway — but I can’t confirm if that’s your husband or not.’
Sounding as though she was fighting back tears, Kalabrya asked ‘do you have a description of him?’
The operator told her that police were en route to the scene of the accident.
A separate 911 call includes a witness saying she saw a man get hit by a dump truck.
‘There was a man hit in front of me. I was traveling on the road and I saw a dump truck hit the man,’ she said.
One of the 911 calls was from a woman who can be heard warning someone, presumably Haskins, to get out of the road.
‘Oh my God,’ the woman exclaimed. ‘What the f*** is wrong with you? Get the f*** out of the road!’
Although his wife’s 911 call may shed some light on the circumstances, it is not definitively known what Haskins was doing on the side of a highway when he was struck.
‘Mr. Haskins was walking on a limited access facility Highway/expressway for unknown reasons,’ Florida Highway patrol said in a statement. ‘He was attempting to cross the westbound lanes of Interstate 595 when there was oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, he collided with an oncoming dump truck.’
Police say Haskins was attempting to cross I-595 in Fort Lauderdale around 6:30am on April 9
A man claimed he saw Haskins walk into traffic with his arms raised minutes before he was fatally struck.
Chris Stanley, who was on his way back from dropping off his daughter at the Fort Lauderdale airport, says he was so shocked that he called 911.
Haskins pictured with wife Kalabrya
He remembers cars drifting into his lane to avoid hitting the former first-round pick.
‘He was about halfway to a quarter way in the right lane, already onto the highway, and I was already concerned that somebody was going to strike him right there at that moment,’ Stanley told WTVJ.
He called 911 at 6:31am, according to a call log shared with the station. That’s six minutes before the Florida Highway Patrol says the accident was reported at 6:37am.
Haskins, who would have been 25 next month, was a first-round pick by Washington in 2019 after an impressive career at Ohio State that included First-team All-Big Ten honors and the Sammy Baugh Trophy, which is awarded annually to college football’s best quarterback.
The New Jersey native earned more than $15 million over three NFL seasons, according to Spotrac.com.
Haskins was a restricted free agent heading into the 2022 season. The Steelers had recently placed an original-round tender on the quarterback, meaning he would make $2.5 million for the 2022 season, provided he wasn’t released. Other teams would have the right to sign Haskins for more money, but they would then owe a first-round pick to Pittsburgh for his rights.
Over the weekend, Ohio State paid tribute to Haskins with a memorial video at the annual Buckeye spring game.
One of Haskins’s former teammates, wide receiver Kamryn Babb, led a team prayer for their fallen friend as the 60,000 fans in attendance watched.
A fan reacts during a candlelight vigil in memory of Dwayne Haskins at Ohio Stadium on April 12, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and former Ohio State Buckeye Dwayne Haskins, 24, died April 9 after he was struck by a dump truck while walking on a South Florida highway
Source: dailymail
