Steelers QB’s SUV, Team Playbook Stolen

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett’s SUV and something potentially even more precious — his team’s playbook — were stolen this week, but both were recovered by the Pittsburgh police.

The vehicle, a 2023 Hyundai Genesis, was stolen from the Bowser Chevrolet parking lot in Monroeville while Pickett, who became the Steelers’ starting quarterback last fall, was inside the dealership doing promotional work, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, quoting its news partner, KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh.

The playbook was in the SUV’s back seat.

The police were called to Bowser at about 4 p.m. Wednesday for reports that Pickett’s car had been stolen. 

According to the criminal complaint, employees at the dealership saw a man, later identified as the alleged car thief, “walking around in the showroom at the dealership for a while before taking the vehicle.”

The man, Christopher Carter of Murrysville, has been charged with receiving stolen property, unauthorized use of a vehicle, and theft.  

The complaint adds that the man was seen on surveillance camera stealing Pickett’s car after he arrived there in his own vehicle.

The police tracked the left-behind car registration to Carter, and later found the car and the playbook when they responded to a domestic dispute at Carter’s home, reported WPXI in Pittsburgh.  

According to the Steelers, Pickett’s playbook was still in the car when the police recovered it. 

“It’s very, very bizarre,” Ashley Antonucci, one of Carter’s neighbors, commented. “I didn’t think that episode was going to turn into what it did.”

She said her neighbor came home Wednesday in a vehicle she didn’t recognize, and that he “definitely wasn’t acting like himself.”

“He’s a standup guy, a wonderful neighbor,” Antonucci added. “I bring him dinner.”

Carter has been released on his recognizance and is to return to court on June 5.

Pickett, now in his second season as the Steelers quarterback, has lived in Pittsburgh since 2017 when he started attending the University of Pittsburgh. He was drafted in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, reported SteelersNow.