COLUMBUS, Ohio — Surrounded by mourners, Stephon Tuitt stood at the lectern and spoke in a commanding voice befitting a big brother.
The Steelers' defensive lineman, dressed in all black, spent six minutes eulogizing the memory of his younger sibling Richard Bartlett III, killed in a hit-and-run car accident last June in suburban Atlanta.
Tuitt took pride in acting as a “second father figure” to Richard, 23, and his other brothers Jared and Jaeden. While his obligations to the Steelers kept him in Pittsburgh most of the time, Tuitt spoke frequently to Richard, never going more than two weeks between phone calls. He had dreams of becoming an entrepreneur, and Tuitt was helping to provide him with the resources and connections necessary.
It wasn’t until the 6-foot-6, 303-pound football player mentioned his baby daughter, Gwendolyn Rose, that his veneer of composure started to crack in front of the audience.
“I was in a situation where we were looking for a godfather,” Tuitt said at the June 12, 2021 service that was live streamed on the website of Atlanta’s CBS television affiliate. “Richard called me the week before he passed away. I didn’t want to say it then because I was going to wait because I’m the type of person that needs to get everything in order. ... But I was going to ask him to be the godfather to my daughter.”
The juxtaposition of new life and sudden death brought the emotion to the surface. Sensing his pain, several mourners offered words of encouragement to Tuitt. He took a second to steady himself before finishing his story.
“So since I’m up here now, I’m going to ask Richard, ‘Do you want to be the godfather to my daughter?’ " Tuitt said. “He would have been like, ‘Yeah.’ ”
Tuitt smiled, and some in the crowd politely applauded. If only the answers to other questions tormenting his family were so easy. They are questions that have been asked so many times since the night of June 2, 2021 when Tuitt received the shocking phone call about his brother’s death.
Why did the driver of the vehicle that struck Richard not slow down as he or she approached cars parked on the side of a roadway with their hazard lights flashing in Johns Creek, Ga.?
How could the driver not pull over after impact, which witnesses say caused damage to the windshield and right side of the car?
When will Tamara Tuitt-Bartlett, the mother of Richard and a witness to the horrific hit-and-run, have any sense of closure and peace of mind?
Despite the best efforts of law enforcement and a $17,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, the case remains unsolved. Eight months later, Tuitt and his grieving family are still seeking justice.
“It’s heart-wrenching as a mom to know (Tamara) witnessed it,” Johns Creek Police communications lieutenant Debra Kalish told DK Pittsburgh Sports. “I can’t even imagine watching my child get hit. It’s heartbreaking that you can’t put it to rest. How do you let that go and move on with your life when you don’t even know the name of the person who did this? Someone knows something, and we need them to come forward.”
STEPHON TUITT INSTAGRAM
Stephon Tuitt with his brother Richard Bartlett III, who was killed in a 2021 hit-and-run accident in Georgia.
Neither Tuitt nor his mother responded to interview requests, which is understandable considering the circumstances. Sheriff Keybo Taylor of the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s office, where Tamara is a deputy, also declined comment through an email, saying it’s not his place to serve as a family spokesman.
Tuitt, 28, missed all of last season in part due to a knee injury and in part because of the tragedy. The Steelers' general manager, Kevin Colbert, recently told DK Pittsburgh Sports that Tuitt has expressed interest in returning to the team for the upcoming season. But the organization has been cautious about saying too much and respecting Tuitt’s privacy.
The defensive lineman has removed his Instagram account and has not been active on Twitter since two days after his brother’s death.
Answers regarding his football future will become public in the coming weeks and months. When the family regains any sense of normalcy is impossible to predict.
Tamara addressed her family's fragile state in an unedited interview with the Atlanta CBS affiliate in July that was emailed to DK Pittsburgh Sports.
“It was an accident, but the person took off,” she said. “The people never revealed themselves. They never came out of the car. You took off like my child was an animal. He was not an animal. . . . Not one day do I wake up and not think about my son. Not one day do I go to bed and not think about my son. It’s devastating.”
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CBS ATLANTA CHANNEL 46
Tamara Tuitt-Bartlett and her son, Jaeden, speak to a television crew in July. Jalen is holding a picture of Richard Bartlett III.
Five years ago, Tuitt bought his mother a townhouse in Johns Creek after signing a six-year, $61.05 million contract extension with the Steelers. She specifically wanted a townhouse so she wouldn’t be burdened with yard work and exterior maintenance.
Tuitt was for anything that made his mother’s life less stressful. Tamara had moved the family from Florida to Lawrenceville, Ga., to provide a more stable environment for her kids. She rented homes rather than buying one so they could live in nicer surroundings.
Tamara was a tough and disciplined single-parent mom. About the only time Tuitt disobeyed her was when he walked almost 11 miles to a mandatory weight training session for the football team as an incoming freshman at Monroe Area High School in 2007. He was supposed to be watching over his younger brothers while mom was at work.
By the spring of 2021, Tamara’s family was thriving. Tuitt was coming off a career year with the Steelers, registering 11 sacks. Jared was a redshirt sophomore on the University of West Virginia football team. Tamara had been recently honored for 15 years of service at the sheriff’s office.
Now, it was Richard’s time to make his mark. A tall, slender, gregarious young man, he was always discussing the business opportunities he planned to pursue. Tuitt loved the fact that Richard bounced ideas off him and sought his advice on how to make them a reality.
“He would take the information that I gave him and share it with his friends,” Tuitt said at the service. “I wanted to help him do what he does best, and that’s be a people person.”
Richard had just landed a new job and was moving into a new residence in nearby Suwanee, Ga. The family was helping him transport his belongings on the night of June 2.
Traveling eastbound on McGinnis Ferry Road just before the Chattahoochee River, the convoy of family cars pulled over to readjust a mattress and boxspring that had come loose on top of one vehicle. It’s a busy stretch of four-lane roadway that does not have overhead lighting or security cameras.
Two cars pulled over to the right-hand side of the road. Richard stopped in the left-hand turn lane that leads to a boat entrance. As he was in the process of assisting family members, Richard was struck by a dark-colored sedan, perhaps a BMW, witnesses told authorities.
According to a Johns Creek police report, witnesses saw the driver of the sedan momentarily stop “as if to see what (he or she) had hit” before speeding away toward Suwanne.
“All of our hazard lights were on,” Tamara said “Three vehicles had hazard lights on. Everyone paid attention, pulled over, slowed down. This one person chose not to do that and hit my child full speed.”
In an age of distracted driving, fatal hit-and-run accidents have increased 44 percent over the past decade, according to figures compiled by ValuePenguin.com. Those numbers do little, however, to capture the trauma for surviving family members and loved ones.
“(Richard’s) face was gone. His right arm was severed,” Tamara said. “If my child had survived today, he would be an amputee. ... Both of his hips and legs were broken. ... My child had beautiful teeth. All of that was gone because of one person who chose not to stand up and be responsible for their actions.”
Kalish was the supervising officer on the scene and did her best to comfort Tamara. The police officer suspects the driver was drunk because otherwise, why not pull over? “It was an accident,” she said.
Crime Stoppers initially offered a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. The family provided an additional $10,000. In February, Sheriff Taylor put up $5,000 more as an incentive for someone to step forward.
Billboards and road signs seeking the community’s help were erected. A local businessman volunteered to drive his mobile billboard around the region with information pertaining to the unsolved case.
Johns Creek Police didn’t just set up a tip line. All calls go directly to the cell phone of officer Alexander Hennessee. The department received many leads, including one that took investigators to Florida. None have led to a breakthrough.
“You have no idea,” Kalish said regarding the investigation. “They have worked countless hours on this case, tracking down every lead. Trust me, this hit very close to home. It was horrible. And on top of that, the mom is a member of law enforcement.”
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GETTY
Stephon Tuitt recorded a career-high 11 sacks in 2020. He did not play at all last season.
Tuitt was excused from the Steelers’ mandatory minicamp in June.
“Everyone knows the personal circumstance that Stephon Tuitt and his family is going through,” Mike Tomlin said. “He has our full support. Our heart goes out to him and his loved one for his loss.”
Tuitt returned to Pittsburgh for training camp, but he worked on the side after aggravating a knee injury. On Sept. 1, Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler addressed the issue that was on everyone’s mind.
“To tell you the truth, I don't know how I'd handle my mom watching her son die,” Butler said. “I don't know if I could handle that. I'm not sure what to tell you besides his knee is bugging him a little bit. He might be a little bit overweight and what he's dealing with his mother.”
In recent years, high-profile athletes such as swimmer Michael Phelps and basketball star Kevin Love have spoken candidly about their personal struggles as they relate to mental health.
For decades, athletes were expected to “tough it out” and “work through adversity.” But the sports world has begun to take a different approach to the mental well-being of its athletes and their families. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and tennis star Naomi Osaka are among those who chose to temporarily step away from competition to deal with problems plaguing them.
“There is a trend in place to recognize athletes less as people who go out on a field and compete, and more as normal kind of human beings who have the same kind of issues and challenges that the rest of us have,” said Dr. Chris Stankovich, founder of Advance Human Performance Systems in Columbus. “For organizations that understand and properly deliver services with professionals trained in sports psychology, the return on the investment is — I don’t know if you can measure it.
“I don’t know if there has been a single watershed moment, but I liken it more to the genie out of the bottle now. Enough prominent athletes have spoken openly about their mood issues, their anxieties. Because so many have spoken so freely there has been a paradigm shift.”
The Steelers have given Tuitt their full support and have allowed him his space. As he enters the final year of his contract, the club waits to see if he’s ready to return.
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TUITT FAMILY
Jared Bartlett alongside his brother Richard Bartlett III.
Tamara stood in front of the television camera last July, her two youngest boys at her side holding a framed portrait of Richard. She pleaded for someone to come forward with information about the fatal hit-and-run. She spoke of Richard’s potential and his plans for the future.
But no comment, not even the graphic description of Richard’s injuries, encompassed her grief quite like the feeling she could have done more in the moment when the suspect fled the scene.
“What bothers me the most — I know I’m a mother first — is if I could have done something differently that night and gone into my training, the outcome would have been different,” Tamara said. “It just devastates me because I couldn’t do anything but try to save my child as he was drowning in his blood.”
What mother has the presence of mind to look for a license plate number in that moment?
Asked what he would say to the driver, Jared was direct.
“Clear your conscious because you murdered someone,” he said. “It’s not a hit-and-run. It’s not an accident anymore. It’s been a month now. You’ve had time to think about this, time to come to terms with this. You’ve chosen not to come forward.”
Jared returned to Morgantown last summer and appeared in 13 games, starting three for the Mountaineers. In September, he spoke to the media about the impact of his brother’s death.
“It put a lot of things into perspective,” he said. “I didn’t want to take every day for granted. I just wanted to live up to his legacy and use everything he taught me while I was here.”
Damien Gabis, a therapist and social worker for Pittsburgh-based Maya Wellness, said there is “no correct way” to move through the grieving process.
Not having a resolution to the violent death of a loved one, Gabis said, complicates matters.
“Not having that compounds the feeling,” he said. “People want to know the ‘why’ or the ‘what’ and want to see justice done.”
Some in society want to put a time limit on grieving, Gabis said, and they callously believe, “You should be over it by now.” It’s not how the process works, however.
Tamara lost a son on June 2. Stephon, Jared and Jaeden lost a brother. Gwendolyn Rose Tuitt lost a godfather.
That anguish is why Johns Creek police officer Hennessee keeps following leads. Why Lieutenant Kalish keeps returning phone calls from media members seeking updates on the case.
“Even if the (suspect) was alone, they had to tell someone,” Kalish said. “There was damage to that car and it had to get fixed somewhere. Somebody out there knows who did this. Maybe, it will take this (suspect) angering someone enough that they will let it loose. Maybe someone feels guilty enough that they know, and are finally willing to come forward. We’re not going to give up. We want to give this family some peace.”
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Anyone with information about the car and/or the suspect is asked to contact officer Alexander Hennessee at the Johns Creek Police department. The phone number is 470-774-3358. His email address is: alexander.hennessee@johnscreekga.gov
