The wife of former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien struggled to catch her breath while on the ground after being hit by the two-time Super Bowl champ as he drove, new police video shows.
The footage, obtained by TMZ Sports, shows Rypien — who said publicly last year he believes he has chronic traumatic encephalopathy from repeated concussions during his playing days — admitting that he struck his wife, Danielle, in the stomach during a dispute in a car on June 30 in Spokane, Washington.
“Because she was covering my face up when I was driving and I was scared and I just said, ‘Get away from me,’” Rypien, 56, explained to an officer on the footage. “We were having an argument in the car.”
Rypien’s wife can be heard coughing loudly off-camera as the officer asked if she needed medical attention.
“What is wrong with her right now?” the cop asked the one-time Super Bowl MVP.
“She had the wind knocked out her when I kind of threw her hand off me and she was covering my face up and I was scared we going to get in a wreck.”
Rypien told cops that his wife had also doused him with water during the argument and an officer confirmed that his seat was wet. Danielle Rypien also said her husband was “sick” from repeated blows to the head and is currently seeing a psychiatrist, video shows.
The former Washington Redskins star was then placed under arrest for fourth-degree assault — a charge that was later dropped — as his crying wife pleaded for officers to reconsider. The charges were dismissed in August.
“You take this man to jail and you’re hurting the whole community,” she said. “He raises money for cancer and it will hurt his reputation in a way he can’t come back from and I’m begging you.”
Rypien later said in a statement released in August that he did not assault his wife.
“We were having an argument and she put her hands on my face, blocking my view of the road while I was driving,” the statement read. “I shoved her aside out of actual fear that I might drive our car into a pedestrian, or otherwise cause a collision that could harm others or one of us.”