Bengals ask Vontaze Burfict to apologize for pushing camera, injuring cameraman

Vontaze Burfict messed with the wrong man, a cameraman.

The Cincinnati Bengals linebacker has been asked to apologize after pushing a camera to the ground and injuring its operator during his team’s victory over the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night.

Burfict ran out of the back of the end zone during a first-quarter play when he encountered the camera and, apparently thinking it’d look better on the ground, pushed it.

In doing so, the 6-foot-1, 248-pounder also injured cameraman Jim Strickler, who was seen with a cut above his eye and a bandage on his nose after the incident.

“I assumed that ball was going to be close to me,” Strickler said, according to his employer, WLWT-TV. “Then, all of a sudden, the camera got hit [and] I got hit. The camera started to fall, so I tried to grab it.”

Strickler said the injury won’t discourage him from working further NFL games.

“It’s a great experience. I love being down there. I love doing the games,” he said. “And this won’t in any way deter me from being back down there. I’ll be back down there that next game on that Monday night.”

The NFL has tried to curtail Burfict’s sometimes over-the-line style of play, fining him more than $77,000 since his joined Cincinnati as an undrafted free agent out of Arizona State in 2012.

Burfict signed a four-year deal worth $19 million with the Bengals in 2014.

He missed the Bengals’ first six games of the year because of a left knee injury.

In two games, Burfict has injured Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell — out for the year with a torn MCL — and one cameraman.

Follow Matt Wilhalme on Twitter @mattwilhalme