Plea deal allows former Viking Everson Griffen to avoid drunken-driving conviction

Former Minnesota Viking Everson Griffen has struck a plea deal that allows 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 from 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.