HERKIMER, N.Y. (AP) – State police said Friday they may never know what pushed a former NFL player to lead them on a dramatic highway chase ending with a fiery head-on crash that took his life.

Troopers believe alcohol may have played a role in Justin Strzelczyk’s death Thursday morning but won’t know until toxicology tests are completed by the state police crime lab in Albany. Tests could take a few weeks, said Trooper Jim Simpson.

During the chase, police saw Strzelczyk drinking a bottle of beer, which he later threw out the window at pursuing police.

Simpson said investigators will try to retrace Strzelczyk’s steps leading up to the chase to determine what might have prompted him to flee police and crash his pickup. Strzelczyk was traveling nearly 90 mph when he collided with a tanker truck.

Troopers said they did not see any brake lights on the pickup.

“We may never find out what happened or what was going through his mind,” Simpson said.

Strzelczyk, 36, of McCandless, Pa., 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.

Police gave this account of the crash:

Strzelczyk fled a hit-and-run accident at 7:20 a.m. just west of Syracuse, about 60 miles from Herkimer. State police put out an alert for the pickup and troopers spotted him about 40 minutes later, still heading east on the New York State Thruway.

Another trooper tried to stop the pickup by booby-trapping the road with tire-shredding “stop sticks.” Strzelczyk just kept on going, driving 15 miles on three tires and a rim. The pickup was clocked at 88 mph, Simpson said.

An eastbound “good Samaritan” trucker saw the chase and pulled his rig across the road in front of the pickup. On Friday, state police asked the public’s help in identifying and locating the trucker. Instead of stopping, Strzelczyk swerved, shot across the grass median into the westbound lanes and traveled about three miles in the wrong direction before colliding with the tanker truck.

Strzelczyk was ejected from his truck as both vehicles burst into flames. Strzelczyk died at the scene. The immediate cause of death was ruled multiple traumatic blunt force injuries, according to the autopsy report.

The highway was shut down for 10 hours. Charred pieces of Strzelczyk’s truck were strewn about the roadway.

The driver of the tanker, Harold Jackson, 60, from Bowman, S.C., was treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released. No one else was hurt.