Former Steelers offensive lineman Justin Strzelczyk died yesterday morning in a fiery collision with a tractor-trailer near Herkimer, N.Y, after leading police on a 40-mile high-speed chase on the New York State Thruway.

Justin Strzelczyk

Strzelczyk, 36, was driving on the wrong side of the thruway when his green pickup truck collided with the tractor-trailer, which was carrying hazardous materials. Both vehicles burst into flames on impact. Strzelczyk was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the tractor-trailer was uninjured.

The pursuit began after Strzelczyk was involved in a hit-and-run accident on the thruway at 7:22 a.m., five miles west of Syracuse.

New York state troopers spotted Strzelczyk's truck on the thruway east of Canastota, N.Y., at 7:45 a.m. and the pursuit began. According to police, Strzelczyk looked back and made an obscene gesture to the troopers. He then threw an empty beer bottle in the direction of the pursuing officers.

Troopers ahead set up road spikes to stop Strzelczyk, but he blew out his right tire on the spikes and drove on three tires and a rim for 12 miles. He was clocked at 88 mph before hitting the spikes.

Another driver of a tractor-trailer, referred to as a good Samaritan by police, pulled his vehicle across the two lanes of highway in an attempt to stop the chase, but Strzelczyk veered across the median and drove east in the westbound lane. He continued for another three miles before colliding with the tanker. The accident occurred in Herkimer about 8:15 a.m. during rush-hour traffic.

Jim Simpson, a spokesman for the New York State Police, said it appeared Strzelczyk had been drinking, but blood alcohol test results will not be available for a few weeks.

"It could have been much worse," Simpson said. "It looked like an airplane crash. There was quite a lot of diesel fuel spilled that was burning. The pickup was almost unrecognizable."

Strzelczyk, who grew up in West Seneca, N.Y., was an 11th-round draft choice in 1990 out of the University of Maine and played nine seasons as a versatile and free-spirited offensive lineman with the Steelers.

	Davis Lassman, The Post Standard via AP Workers at the scene of the fatal crash on the westbound lanes of the New York State Thruway near Herkimer, N.Y., yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

"He was a very, very good guy, a good player," Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney said. "He added to the whole team activity, playing the guitar and kidding around all the time. On the field, he carried his weight. He could play anywhere on the line. It's a shame."

Strzelczyk played in 137 games for the Steelers, including 75 starts. He was a defensive tackle at Maine but played on the offensive line with the Steelers, rotating between guard and tackle. He started 14 games in 1995, the year the Steelers went to the Super Bowl. That unit allowed just 24 sacks in a team-record 592 pass attempts.

In 1998, Strzelczyk started seven games before a quadricep injury put him on injured reserve. The following year, he aggravated that injury in a barroom mishap. A month later, he tore his biceps muscle while playing in a celebrity hockey game.

The Steelers released him. The hockey injury likely cost Strzelczyk millions of dollars he could have earned as a free agent.

"He was a real jovial guy," said former offensive tackle Tunch Ilkin, who played three seasons with Strzelczyk. "He was a younger player toward the end of my career, and, as an older guy, I tried to be an encourager to him. I was kind of the father figure in the locker room and he would always bounce questions off me."

Among current Steelers, Jerome Bettis, Hines Ward and Alan Faneca played with Strzelczyk.

"Justin was a good guy ... a hell of a teammate and a good person," said Bettis, who played three seasons with Strzelczyk. "If he was a friend 10 years ago, he was a friend up until his last day."

"You really respected his game," said Ward, who was a rookie receiver in 1998, Strzelczyk's last season as a full-time player with the Steelers. "When he was out on the field, he was all-out. He'd go out there to protect his quarterback, and if he messed up he'd say, 'It'll never happen again.' Everyone liked him in the locker room. It's a tragedy."

Strzelczyk was known as a free spirit, a player who wore hunting clothes, rode motorcycles and played the guitar. After he retired, he did some part-time work with a sports radio station and even tried acting in local productions.

He also played on the Pittsburgh Celebrity hockey team with Ilkin, Penguins general manager Craig Patrick, and former Penguins players Joey Mullen and Bryan Trottier, among others.

Tom O'Malley, the coach of the Steelers basketball team, said Strzelczyk got himself in great shape two years ago and attempted a comeback, but no NFL teams signed him to a contract.

O'Malley said Strzelczyk was an excellent basketball player in high school and was being recruited by some Division I schools, but he injured his knee as a junior and the scholarship offers disappeared. That's when he turned to football and accepted a scholarship to Maine.

As a player, Strzelczyk will be remembered as a versatile lineman who could step in and play several positions.

"He was a great player and an even better guy in the locker room," said Faneca, a No. 1 pick in 1998 who played on the same line with Strzelczyk. "I came in with a group of guys who put me on the path, and he was one of them."

Strzelczyk had been in trouble with police before. In 2000, he was held for court on charges that he carried a handgun without a permit after he drew a chrome-plated 9 mm pistol and laid it on the counter at Fat Heads bar in the South Side.

Strzelczyk had two homes in the North Hills. His ex-wife and children, a boy and girl, live in one of them.