Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was arrested at a Moscow airport in 2022 for possession of an illegal cannabis cartridge, blames a “mental lapse” for why she forgot to remove the cartridge before inspection.
Griner, who served ten months in prison for possessing the cannabis cartridge – which is illegal in Russia – before being released in a prisoner swap for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.
In a partial release of an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, Griner was asked how she would respond to those who have trouble believing she could forget about having an illegal cannabis cartridge in her luggage.
Brittney Griner looks on in the second half during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game between the UConn Huskies and the Iowa Hawkeyes at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on April 05, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
“I would say, ‘Have you ever forgot your keys in your car, left your car running? Have you ever (asked) where’s my glasses, and they’re on top of your head? Where’s my phone? Oh, it’s in my pocket.’ It’s just so easy to have a mental lapse,” Griner said.
“Granted, my mental lapse was more on a grand scale, but it doesn’t take away from how that could happen.”
Roberts also queried Griner on her mental state as the Russian authorities were searching her.
US Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, leaves the courtroom after the court’s verdict in Khimki outside Moscow, on August 4, 2022. (Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
“Just everything that I’m not gonna see. I’m thinking about my wife,” she said. “Thinking about what my family is gonna think, public opinion is gonna think. I can just see the headlines now, like I could just visualize everything I worked so hard for just crumbling and going away.
“And to be somewhere where there’s no understanding. In the U.S., I can articulate what happened, how this happened. I didn’t plan to do this. This was a mistake. It was an accident. I understand accidents have repercussions, but there’s nothing. There’s none of that.”
More excerpts from the interview are expected to be released on Wednesday. Griner is entering her 11th year with the Phoenix Mercury.
