Brittney Griner’s High School Coach Doesn’t Believe Charges Against Her

There has been much speculation about Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner’s detainment in Russia, but her former coach doesn’t buy the current charges levied against her. Griner has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17 after the Russian Federal Customs Service said it found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow. 

“With all the problems with Russia and them attacking Ukraine, has Brittney become a political bargaining chip?” Debbie Jackson, Griner’s high school basketball coach, told The New York Times. “Is this part of politics? So much of it doesn’t make any sense to me that I find it hard to believe that this is really the true thing that happened.”

There is also a video of customs searching Griner’s luggage in which it said the cartridges were discovered. Her booking photo and the video are rare sightings of Griner, who has not had contact with the outside world. There’s been little word on her case or well-being. Jackson just doesn’t buy the fact that Griner would do something like this. 

“It’s just hard to believe that Brittney, or any professional athlete that knows the laws of that country and the cultural differences and norms and just the completely different political system, would even think about putting in their carry-on bag something that was a banned substance in that country,” she Jackson told the Times.