« Reply #19 on: July 05, 2006, 01:33:39 pm »
You don\'t have a problem, until you are this guy
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A convenience-store videotape recorded after a March crash involving Eddie Griffin shows the Minnesota Timberwolves forward told store employees that he was drunk and he didn\'t want to go to jail.
The Minneapolis Police Department is investigating whether two officers who responded to the accident failed to ticket Griffin for suspected drunken driving after he crashed into a parked car.
Meanwhile, the owner of the damaged vehicle and his brother have sued Griffin and the city, claiming Griffin tried to bribe them and that their civil rights were violated when officers failed to conduct a proper criminal investigation.
The suit alleges Griffin was drunk and masturbating when he crashed his luxury SUV into a parked Suburban outside a store in Minneapolis, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday.
Griffin told the St. Paul Pioneer Press after the accident that he crashed his car because he was reaching for a cell phone that had fallen off his lap. But the lawsuit alleges the crash occurred because Griffin was "under the influence of alcohol" and masturbating while watching pornography on a TV set in his dashboard.
In the early morning of March 30, Griffin, 24, hit a car near the intersection of University and 6th Avenues. Witnesses said Griffin then went into a convenience store and told employees he was drunk.
Portions of a store videotape viewed by The Associated Press on WCCO-TV\'s Web site backs up those statements. It shows Griffin saying he was drunk and that he didn\'t want to go jail. The tape also shows that Griffin offered to buy the owner of the damaged sport-utility vehicle any type of new car or truck he wanted, "but not a Bentley."
Messages left Friday with Griffin\'s agent and his attorney were not immediately returned to The Associated Press.
The Star Tribune reported that it had viewed the entire 50-minute videotape, which shows a Minneapolis police officer saying, "He\'s not getting a DWI," and "We\'re taking him home to St. Paul."
The police report filed after the incident said the crash happened because Griffin wasn\'t paying attention to the road. Griffin received misdemeanor citations for driving without a license and for inattentive driving.
Several witnesses said they told officers Daniel Anderson and Matthew Lindquist that Griffin was drunk, but the police report does not say whether officers gave Griffin blood-alcohol or field-sobriety tests. Police are investigating whether the officers violated department policy when they drove Griffin to his home in St. Paul — officers must contact a supervisor before leaving city limits.
Anderson and Lindquist remain on duty during the internal investigation. Police administration could not comment because of the investigation, according to a department spokesman.
A lawsuit filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court alleges that Griffin was watching a pornographic DVD in his sport-utility vehicle and masturbating at the time of the crash. The lawsuit was filed by Jamal Hassuneh, the owner of the damaged vehicle, and his brother, Lindsey.
It seeks $50,000 in compensatory damages.
The lawsuit also alleges Griffin was drunk and tried to bribe them into canceling a 911 call to police. It accuses interim police chief Timothy Dolan and the responding officers of violating their civil rights by improperly investigating the incident.
The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial. An attorney for the Hassunehs, Michael Padden, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that both sides had been negotiating a settlement, but he did not say whether talks were ongoing.
A message left for Padden by the AP was not immediately returned Friday.
Timberwolves spokesman Mike Cristaldi told newspapers the lawsuit was an issue between Griffin and the plaintiffs. He did not immediately return a phone call to the AP.
Griffin, who joined the Timberwolves in October 2004, had undergone alcohol-abuse treatment in the past.
He was drafted by New Jersey in 2001 and was traded to the Houston Rockets, where he played two seasons. In fall 2003, the Rockets suspended him for missing practices and a team flight, and that same week, he was arrested for marijuana possession.
Later that year, he was charged with felony assault for allegedly beating and shooting a gun at a woman in his Houston home. That charge was pleaded down to a misdemeanor, but Griffin violated his probation and was sentenced to 15 days in jail last summer.
Logged
A man who has seen the things I have seen,
experienced the loss and pain I have experienced,
I transcend race, hombre.
