Newly released police video shows former WWE executive Vince McMahon ram his luxury sportscar into the rear end of another vehicle on a Connecticut highway last summer as he was being followed by a state trooper.
McMahon, now 80, was driving his 2024 Bentley Continental GT at more than 100 mph (160 kph) on the Merritt Parkway when he crashed in the town of Westport, according to state police.
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FILE - In this May 21, 2010, file photo, WWE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon is shown at the Connecticut Republican Convention in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
In an image taken from Connecticut State Police police dashcam video, Vince McMahon's car, left, strikes the median after colliding with another car after on July 24, 2025, in Westport, Conn. (Connecticut State Police via AP)
In an image taken from Connecticut State Police police dashcam video, Vince McMahon's car, center left, collides with another car after on July 24, 2025, in Westport, Conn. (Connecticut State Police via AP)
In an image taken from Connecticut State Police police bodycam video, Vince McMahon is questioned in his car after an accident on July 24, 2025, in Westport, Conn. (Connecticut State Police via AP)
A trooper’s dashcam video shows McMahon accelerating away, then braking too late to avoid crashing into the back of a BMW. The Bentley then swerves into a guardrail and careens back across the highway, creating a cloud of dirt and car parts.
“Why were you driving all over 100 mph?” state police Detective Maxwell Robins asked McMahon after catching up to the wrecked Bentley, which can cost over $300,000.
“I got my granddaughter’s birthday” McMahon replied, explaining he was on his way to see her. The encounter was recorded on police bodycam video.
No one was seriously injured in the July 24 crash, which happened the same day that WWE legend Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack in Florida.
Besides damage to the rear of the BMW, another vehicle driving on the opposite side of the parkway was struck by flying debris. The driver of that third car happened to be wearing a WWE shirt, according to the police video.
McMahon was cited for reckless driving and following too closely. A state judge in October allowed McMahon to enter a pretrial probation program that will result in the charges being erased from his record next October if he successfully completes the program. He was also ordered to make a $1,000 charitable contribution.
McMahon’s lawyer, Mark Sherman, said the crash was just an accident.
“Not every car accident is a crime,” Sherman said. “Vince’s primary concern during this case was for the other drivers and is appreciative that the court saw this more of an accident than a crime that needed to be prosecuted.”
State police said Robins was trying to catch up to McMahon on the parkway and clock his speed before pulling him over. They said the incident was not a pursuit, which happens when police chase someone trying to flee officers. They also said it did not appear McMahon was trying to escape — though in the video the detective suggests otherwise.
"I'm trying to catch up to you and you keep taking off,” Robins says.
“No, no no. I'm not trying to outrun you," McMahon says.
An accident information summary provided to the media shortly after the crash did not mention that a trooper was following McMahon.
The Associated Press obtained the videos Wednesday through a public records request. They were first obtained by The Sun newspaper.
The trooper's bodycam video also shows him asking McMahon whether he was looking at his phone when the crash happened. McMahon said he was not and adds that he hadn't driven his car in a long time.
After Robins tells McMahon that his car is fast, McMahon replies, “Yeah, too (expletive) fast.”
The videos also show McMahon talking to the driver he rear-ended. Barbara Doran, of New York City, told the AP last summer that McMahon expressed his concern for her and was glad she was OK. She said she was heading to a ferry to Martha's Vineyard at the time of the crash.
After McMahon was given the traffic summons, he shook hands with Robins and another trooper and they wished him well.
McMahon stepped down as WWE’s CEO in 2022 amid a company investigation into sexual misconduct allegations. He also resigned as executive chairman of the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of WWE, in 2024, a day after a former WWE employee filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against him. McMahon has denied the allegations. The lawsuit remains pending.
McMahon bought what was then the World Wrestling Federation in 1982 and transformed it from a regional wrestling company into a worldwide phenomenon. Besides running the company with his wife, Linda, who is now the U.S. education secretary, he also performed at WWE events as himself.
FILE - In this May 21, 2010, file photo, WWE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon is shown at the Connecticut Republican Convention in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
In an image taken from Connecticut State Police police dashcam video, Vince McMahon's car, left, strikes the median after colliding with another car after on July 24, 2025, in Westport, Conn. (Connecticut State Police via AP)
In an image taken from Connecticut State Police police dashcam video, Vince McMahon's car, center left, collides with another car after on July 24, 2025, in Westport, Conn. (Connecticut State Police via AP)
In an image taken from Connecticut State Police police bodycam video, Vince McMahon is questioned in his car after an accident on July 24, 2025, in Westport, Conn. (Connecticut State Police via AP)
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts and Nevis (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday defended the Trump administration’s military operation to capture Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, telling Caribbean leaders, many of whom objected to that move, that the country and the region were better off as a result.
Speaking to leaders from the 15-member Caribbean Community bloc at a summit in the country of St. Kitts and Nevis, Rubio brushed aside concerns about the legality of Maduro’s capture last month that have been raised among Venezuela’s island-state neighbors and others.
“Irrespective of how some of you may have individually felt about our operations and our policy toward Venezuela, I will tell you this, and I will tell you this without any apology or without any apprehension: Venezuela is better off today than it was eight weeks ago,” Rubio told the leaders in a closed-door meeting, according to a transcript of his remarks later distributed by the U.S. State Department.
Rubio said that since Maduro’s ouster and the effective takeover of Venezuela’s oil sector by the United States, the interim authorities in the South American country have made “substantial” progress in improving conditions by doing “things that eight or nine weeks ago would have been unimaginable.”
The Caribbean leaders have gathered to debate pressing issues in a region that President Donald Trump has targeted for a 21st-century incarnation of the Monroe Doctrine meant to ensure Washington’s dominance in the Western Hemisphere. The Republican administration has declared a focus closer to home even as Washington increasingly has been preoccupied by the possibility of a U.S. military attack on Iran.
His trip to the region came as Cuba’s government announced that its soldiers killed four people aboard a speedboat registered in Florida whose occupants it said opened fire on officers in Cuban waters.
“Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that. It’s not something that happens every day. It’s something, frankly, that hasn’t happened with Cuba in a very long time,” Rubio told reporters. He said that the U.S. is gathering its own information and that "we’ll be prepared to respond accordingly.”
In his remarks to the group, America's top diplomat tried to play down any antagonistic intent in what Trump has referred to as the “Donroe Doctrine.” Rubio said the administration wants to strengthen ties with the region following the Venezuela operation and ensure that issues such as crime and economic opportunities are jointly addressed.
“I am very happy to be in an administration that’s giving priority to the Western Hemisphere after largely being ignored for a very long time,” Rubio said. “We share common opportunities, and we share some common challenges. And that’s what we hope to confront.”
He said transnational criminal organizations pose the biggest threat to the Caribbean while recognizing that many are buying weapons from the United States, a problem he said authorities are tackling.
Rubio also said the U.S. and the Caribbean can work together on economic advancement and energy issues, especially because many leaders at the four-day summit have energy resources they seek to explore. “We want to be your partner in that regard,” he said.
Rubio said the U.S. recognizes the need for fair, democratic elections in Venezuela, which lies just miles away from Trinidad and Tobago at the closest point.
“We do believe that a prosperous, free Venezuela who’s governed by a legitimate government who has the interests of their people in mind could also be an extraordinary partner and asset to many of the countries represented here today,” he said.
Trump, in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, called the operation that spirited Maduro out of Venezuela to face drug trafficking charges in New York “an absolutely colossal victory for the security of the United States.”
The U.S. had built up the largest military presence in the Caribbean Sea in generations before the Jan. 3 raid. That has now been exceeded by the surge of American warships and aircraft to the Middle East as the administration pressures Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program.
In the Caribbean, Trump has stepped up aggressive tactics to combat alleged drug smuggling with a series of strikes on boats that have killed over 150 people and he has tightened pressure on Cuba. Regional leaders have complained about administration demands for nations to accept third-country deportees and to chill relations with China.
One regional leader who has backed the U.S. escalation is Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, whom Rubio thanked for her public support, the State Department said.
Persad-Bissessar told reporters that her conversation with Rubio focused on “Haiti; we talked about Cuba, of course; we talked about engagements with Venezuela and the way forward.”
She was asked if she considered the latest U.S. military strikes in Caribbean waters as extrajudicial killings: “I don’t think they are, and if they are, we will find out, but our legal advice is they are not.”
Rubio had other one-on-one meetings with heads of government, including those from St. Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, Jamaica and Guyana.
Terrance Drew, prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and chair of the Caribbean Community bloc, said the region “stands at a decisive hour” and that “the global order is shifting.”
Drew and other leaders said Cuba's humanitarian situation must be addressed.
“It must be clear that a prolonged crisis in Cuba will not remain confined to Cuba,” Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness warned. “It will affect migration, security and economic stability across the Caribbean basin.”
Rubio told reporters that he talked to Caribbean leaders about how the “Cuba status quo is unacceptable. Cuba needs to change.”
“What the Cuban people should know is this, that if they are hungry and they are suffering, it’s not because we’re not prepared to help them. We are. It’s that the people standing in the way of us helping them is the regime. It’s their communist party,” he said.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday slightly eased restrictions on the sale of Venezuelan oil to Cuba, which instituted austere fuel-saving measures in the weeks after the U.S. raid in Venezuela.
Coto reported from San José, Costa Rica. Associated Press reporter Anselm Gibbs in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, contributed to this report.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center front in red tie, poses for a group photo with other government officials attending the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. Also pictured are, Bahamas' Prime Minister Philip Edward Davis, left, Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, fourth from right, Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister Gaston Browne, second from right, Barbados' Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, second from left, Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness, front row third from left, and St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew, third from right. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, shakes hands with St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, which is hosting the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio waits to meet with St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, which is hosting the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives a thumbs up during the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) plenary session in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, meets with Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar during the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front center, attends the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) plenary session in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
