The Sports Xchange

The New England Patriots released linebacker Brandon Spikes on Monday, one day after a car registered to him was found abandoned with front-end damage.

State police are investigating whether the damaged 2011 Mercedes Maybach found abandoned early Sunday morning in the median strip of Interstate 495 in Foxborough, Mass., is linked to a reported hit-and-run accident that sent three people to the hospital.

Police said they were alerted around 3:20 a.m. by a representative of the OnStar on-board navigation system that the driver reported hitting a deer.

When police arrived at the car, the driver was not present. Police said they did not find a deer in the area.

Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio said a short time later that police responded to a report of a 2009 Nissan Murano, also on I-495 in the same area whose occupants reported that they had been rear-ended by another vehicle they did not see.

All three occupants of that vehicle — a 51-year-old man, a 32-year-old woman, and a 12-year-old boy, all of Billerica, Mass., were transported to the hospital for examination and treatment, according to police. Procopio said the injuries to the three occupants of the Murano were minor in nature.

“The investigation will seek to determine whether there is any connection between the reported incidents,” Procopio said. “No connection has yet been definitively established.”

According to reports, state troopers have reached out to Spikes. No charges have been filed yet.

The Patriots re-signed Spikes, 27, to a one-year deal last month. He is a veteran of five NFL seasons with New England (2010-13) and the Buffalo Bills (2014).

The 6-foot-2, 255-pound Spikes originally entered the NFL as a second-round draft pick (62nd overall) by the Patriots out of Florida in 2010.

Spikes signed with the Bills as an unrestricted free agent on March 15, 2014 and re-signed with the Patriots on May 18.

Spikes has played in 66 career games with 50 starts and has registered 384 total tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, seven forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and 15 passes defensed.