PITTSBURGH - A police investigator says new evidence suggests that former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Justin Strzelczyk likely had a mental breakdown leading up to a dramatic highway chase that ended in a fiery head-on crash that killed him, a Pittsburgh newspaper reported.

New York State Police have been trying to unravel what prompted Strzelczyk, 36, of McCandless, to lead troopers on a a 40-mile chase on the New York State Thruway after fleeing a hit-and-run accident just west of Syracuse, N.Y., on Sept. 30.

Strzelczyk eventually swerved across a median into the westbound lanes after an eastbound trucker cut him off, and then traveled for miles in the wrong direction before colliding with a tanker truck near Herkimer, N.Y., while driving nearly 90 mph, police said. Strzelczyk, thrown from his truck as both vehicles burst into flames, died at the scene.

Interviews with people Strzelczyk reportedly encountered before the chase indicate the former Steeler likely had a mental breakdown, New York State Police investigator James Hunt told the newspaper for a story published Saturday.

"At the time it appears - and not being a psychiatrist - from witness accounts, that Justin Strzelczyk suffered some sort of emotional breakdown," said Hunt, who is in charge of the case. "Whether it was drug- or alcohol-induced or something psychological related to a pre-existing illness, or both, I don't know. All of a sudden he snapped."

Troopers believe alcohol might have played a role in Strzelczyk's death but won't know until toxicology tests are completed by the state police crime lab in Albany, which could take weeks.

Hunt said a woman told investigators that she talked with Strzelczyk at a gas station near Rochester, N.Y., on the morning of the crash.

"He spoke to her and asked her questions about did she believe in God and did she have children, and he told her it was very important that she get her children to the higher ground," Hunt said.

Two hours before his death, Strzelczyk tried to give his money to another customer at the gas station, but the customer refused, Hunt said. He did pay for the person's fuel, Hunt said.

"I don't want to say he was delusional, but he had made repeated references to God and demons and other things," Hunt said. "Some of his friends and family had been trying to get him help."

Strzelczyk's mother, Mary Joyce Strzelczyk, of West Seneca, N.Y., was quoted earlier as saying that she suspected that her son may have been suffering from an untreated mental or emotional illness, and she had "seen trouble with his mood disorders coming." She did not return a phone call Friday evening. Strzelczyk's ex-wife, Keana Strzelczyk, did not have a listed phone number.

Strzelczyk was an offensive lineman with the Steelers for nearly a decade until the team released him in February 2000. The 6-foot-3, 309-pound Strzelczyk, who grew up in West Seneca, a suburb of Buffalo, was an 11th-round pick in the 1990 NFL draft out of the University of Maine. He spent nine years with the Steelers and played in the 1995 Super Bowl.