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The case of Brianna Grier, a Black Georgia woman who died in police custody, won't go before a civil or criminal grand jury, prosecutors decided.
On Monday (November 7), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced that it had closed its probe into the July incident where Grier fell out of a moving Hancock County Sheriff’s Office patrol car and died, per WRDW. The GBI took the case to the Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney, who ultimately decided against presenting the case to a grand jury.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump spoke out about the decision on Monday.
“Instead of helping Brianna Grier with her mental health crisis, Hancock County Sheriff’s (GA) deputies took her into custody, let her fall out of a moving patrol vehicle, and caused her death,” Crump tweeted. “The family of Brianna’s orphaned twin girls deserve ANSWERS! Demand accountability.”
Grier, 28, was arrested on July 15 after a mental health episode. While deputies were transporting her to the Hancock County Sheriff's Office, she fell out of the patrol car and suffered significant injuries. Days later, Grier was pronounced dead on July 21 at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
After conducting numerous interviews and mechanical tests on the patrol car as well as reviewing body camera footage, the GBI concluded that the rear passenger side door, where Grier, who was handcuffed and not wearing a seatbelt, was sitting, was never closed. According to the investigation, deputies opened both rear doors to put Grier in the patrol car, but only closed the rear driver's side door. The deputy thought he closed the rear passenger side door, according to the investigation.
Body camera footage shows the deputies had no other contact with Grier from the time she was put in the car until she fell out of the vehicle while it was moving.
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