Person accused of harassing Brittney Griner at Dallas airport pushed team security, per report
The person accused of subjecting Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner to "excessive harassment" at a Dallas airport on Saturday tried to push his way through team personnel to confront the WNBA star, according to police records obtained by ESPN.
Police said Alex Stein, a right-wing social media personality, approached the Mercury as the team walked the concourse of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport prior to the team's flight to Indiana.
When Stein approached the team, Phoenix forward Brianna Turner said "wild remarks" were being shouted at Griner and the team. A member of the Mercury's security personnel attempted to intervene, but Stein reportedly pushed the security personnel in an attempt to confront Griner. Stein was pushed toward a wall in the concourse as Griner and the rest of the team waited behind a gate until police arrived.
OPINION: Don't blame the buffoon who harassed Brittney Griner. Blame the leadership of the WNBA.
When officers arrived around 9:30 a.m. local time, Phoenix's security personnel told police Stein "seemed aggressive and made some inappropriate comments" to Griner, according to the report. The security personnel added Stein got physical with him, but he didn't want to press charges.
After the incident, the Mercury were eventually escorted to a customer experience office until they boarded their flight, per the report. The team was escorted to the gate by officers around 10:20 a.m. and boarded the flight with no further issues.
Meanwhile, police were unable to locate Stein in the area, as he was not found to have a flight at the airport, according to the report. The airport's Master Control Room told authorities Stein "walked to the lower gates, connected with a female passenger and entered the Skylink Train heading to Terminals B & D." Stein posted a video online of him recording the incident, asking Griner questions related to her release from Russia after she was detained for nearly 10 months on drug charges.
USA TODAY Sports has reached out to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for more information.
Concerns over WNBA travel
The incident highlighted the ongoing debate of charter flights in the WNBA. Players and the Women's National Basketball Players Association have advocated for charter flights to be used for teams, citing commercial flights are "a threat" to player health and safety.
However, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said the league is unable to do it due to costs. This year teams will charter for the entire playoffs, the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup game and “select” regular season contests where teams have back-to-back games scheduled.
The WNBAPA said Saturday "everyone who was paying attention knew this would happen" and asked the league to reconsider its charter flight rules or "situations like this will continue to occur."
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Mercury travel adjustments
Following a 85-82 victory over the Indiana Fever on Sunday, Phoenix Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard said the team would "ensure that our players and our organization and our staff are safe" for future travel.
"We will be making (travel) adjustments that maybe should have happened before, but right now we’re going to prioritize the safety of our players and we’ve seen that the organization has supported us," Nygaard said.
Contributing: Cydney Henderson and Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Person who confronted Brittney Griner in Dallas pushed security
