Star Tribune
Plea deal allows former Viking Everson Griffen to avoid drunken driving conviction
Former Minnesota Viking Everson Griffen has struck a plea deal that allowed him to avoid a drunken driving conviction stemming from when he was pulled over last summer in Chanhassen.
Griffen, who played for the Vikings from 2010-19 and again in 2021, was placed on a year’s supervised probation and ordered to pay $1,090 in fines and fees after pleading guilty to misdemeanor careless driving.
In exchange for his plea, Judge Michael Wentzell dismissed the remaining drunken driving and speeding charges.
The 37-year-old Griffen wrote in the plea document filed in Carver County District Court that “I operated my motor vehicle carelessly. Specifically, I drove at a high rate of speed while weaving in and out of traffic, after consuming alcohol. I believe my driving conduct thus endangered myself and others.”
Griffen’s blood alcohol content was .09%, above the legal limit for driving in Minnesota, according to preliminary breath test results noted in the citation.
Wentzell directed Griffen to complete a chemical assessment and attend a victim impact panel. He also was ordered to not drive after license revocation, and commit no alcohol-related or careless driving offenses.
Griffen was stopped late in the morning on July 22 by a by a Carver County sheriff’s deputy after he was reported to be driving in a manner that “caused a person or vehicle to dodge” his car, the citation read. No further details were disclosed other than he was accused of driving 60 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone.
The former All-Pro defensive lineman was arrested near Powers Boulevard and Utica Lane, and detained for about an hour before his release, according to jail records.
In the months following the drunken driving allegation, Griffen crashed his car into a fence and gazebo in Mound on Oct. 28. He was cited and convicted of failure to drive with due care, a petty misdemeanor. On Dec. 7 in Shakopee, he was stopped by police for driving 55 mph in a 30 mph zone. He was convicted of a petty misdemeanor in that case as well.
In December 2021, following multiple troubling incidents, Griffen announced on social media that he has been living with bipolar disorder.
Griffen called 911 shortly after 3 a.m. from his Minnetrista home on Nov. 24, 2021, saying someone was with him, and he needed help from law enforcement. He also told the dispatcher he fired one round, but no one was wounded, police said. They added no intruder was found.
The same day, Griffen had posted, then deleted, a video on Instagram saying people were trying to kill him as he held a gun in his hand. He was alone inside the house, with police outside, until he emerged and agreed to be taken for treatment.
Griffen also spent four weeks undergoing mental health treatment in 2018 after two incidents that September — one at the Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis, the other at his home — that prompted police involvement. He later revealed he lived in a sober house for the remainder of the 2018 season.
The fourth-round draft choice out of USC returned to play 17 of the Vikings’ 18 regular-season and postseason games in 2019. He spent 2020 with Dallas and Detroit before the Vikings brought him back for the 2021 season in a one-year deal.
The fledgling Minneapolis “safety-beyond-policing” department, which has been accused of mismanaging contracts with violence interrupters, is again under scrutiny for requesting nearly $1 million for a business owned by the sister of one of its staff members.
Unanswered questions about the Black Business Enterprises Fund and the purpose of the contract have repeatedly delayed a City Council vote on the contract.
Neighborhood Safety Director Luana Nelson-Brown came before the council’s administration oversight committee on Oct. 7 to argue for giving the business a one-year, $992,400 contract for “capacity building and compliance consulting services.” Black Business Enterprises Fund would use the money to employ a team of 17 experts to coach violence interrupters on financial literacy and how to comply with government accounting requirements.
“A good financial system allows organizations to track their spending accurately, ensuring that funds are used properly and enabling them to prepare regular reports that meet government expectations,” Nelson-Brown said. “It also streamlines invoice reimbursements, which allows us to make more timely payments, and it is necessary for audits and evaluation of program success. I also want to note that these are all things that have been identified as weaknesses.”
Nelson-Brown said the need for the contract is underscored by a lawsuit that accused the city of arbitrarily awarding millions of dollars to violence prevention groups without proper accounting, as well as the “Safe and Thriving Communities” report on building a comprehensive model of public safety. The city commissioned the Harvard University report after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
City Council members have also been pushing for greater accountability in the Neighborhood Safety Department, particularly after a whistleblower complaint shared with council members this year questioned the relationships between contract recipients and department staff. One of the whistleblower’s claims had to do with Black Business Enterprises Fund owner Nancy Korsah, and her sister, Neighborhood Safety Department staffer Georgia Korsah.
On Oct. 7, council members asked Nelson-Brown about that relationship, whether the business had experience working with nonprofits — particularly those that provide violence prevention services — and whether it is an organization capable of helping others build theirs.
Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw said she wasn’t aware of what the Black Business Enterprises Fund had done besides “having a gala.” Council Member Jeremiah Ellison said a review of the organization’s website raised a “red flag.”
A motorcyclist set off a three-vehicle crash on a central Minnesota highway and was killed, officials said Monday.
The wreck occurred about 10:40 p.m. Sunday north of Royalton on Hwy. 10, the State Patrol said.
The motorcyclist was heading east on Hwy. 10 and struck a fish house being pulled by a pickup truck driver. The motorcyclist, a 27-year-old man from Sauk Rapids, Minn., was thrown from his bike and struck a median pillar.
A car heading in the same direction hit the motorcycle.
Occupying the pickup were a 46-year-old driver from Rice, Minn., and a 43-year-old passenger, also from Rice. The car’s driver, a 34-year-old woman from Cobalt, was her vehicle’s only occupant.
Identities of all the people involved in the crash have yet to be released, and there is no word yet on whether anyone was injured other than the motorcyclist.
A motorist died Sunday morning after striking a deer on a northwest metro freeway and then getting rear-ended by a second driver, the State Patrol said.
Julie Terwey, 60, of South Haven, Minn., was driving east on Interstate 94 near Brockton Lane in Maple Grove when she struck a deer at about 5:25 a.m. She was stopped in the center lane when she was hit from behind by a second driver, the patrol said.
Terwey, who was wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene, the patrol said.
The driver who collided with Terway’s Ford Escape, Jordan Land, was taken to a hospital with noncritical injuries, the patrol said.
Land, 32, of Becker, Minn., was wearing a seat belt, the patrol said.
Alcohol was not a factor in the predawn crash, the patrol said.
