Eddie Griffin guilty of inattentive driving, self-gratification
Minnesota Timberwolves player Eddie Griffin pleaded guilty to a petty misdemeanor for inattentive driving for a bizarre March 30 crash that attracted national attention.
The 24-year-old Griffin paid a fine and court fees totaling $375, said Mary Ellen Heng, an assistant city attorney. A misdemeanor charge for driving without a license was dropped after Griffin produced a valid Texas license and proof of insurance.
Heng said Griffin entered the plea through his attorney and did not appear in court. In exchange, the Minneapolis prosecutor agreed to drop another charge when he produced a Texas driver’s license and proof of insurance.
The I-TEAM report showed surveillance tape of Griffin’s Cadillac Escalade truck smashing into an SUV parked in front of Santana Foods grocery store on University Avenue in southeast Minneapolis. Store owner Abed Hassuneh said Griffin was drunk and told him he had been watching pornography on his dashboard DVD player.
“The guy was drunk and he was performing sex to himself inside the car,” Hassuneh said. In the surveillance tape, Griffin can be heard saying “It’s like I am drunk, I’m drunk” and seen struggling for several minutes to put on his sweatshirt.
