Photo: Getty Images
The family of Brianna Grier, a 28-year-old Black woman in Georgia who died after falling out of a moving patrol car, has filed a $100 million civil rights lawsuit over her death, per Fox5.
Grier, a mother of young twin daughters, died on July 21, 2022, just days after her mother, Mary Grier, called authorities to her home while she experienced a mental health crisis.
"They wanted the police to help her - take her to the hospital to get help. They had called before asking them for help," said Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family.
Body camera footage shows deputies carrying an erratic, handcuffed Grier by all fours into a patrol car. As the video continues, Grier can be heard threatening her life and telling deputies that she's not drunk.
Deputies drove Grier for less than a minute before stopping the car, getting out, and seeing the mother laying on the ground. The fall left Grier with fatal brain injury and in a coma for six days before she died at an Atlanta hospital.
"Since she was handcuffed there was no breaking the fall. Her skull hit the road," Crump said.
Mary Grier said she was at the scene of her daughter's arrest.
"They carried her like a log," the mother said. "She wasn't no animal. She wasn't no bad person. She just had some problems she couldn't control."
In November, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced that it had closed its probe into the incident. The GBI then took the case to the Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney, who ultimately decided against presenting the case to a grand jury.
The new lawsuit names two deputies and the Hancock County Sheriff's Office as defendants, claiming that they "participated in gross negligence" leading to Grier's wrongful death.
The Black Information Network is your source for Black News! Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HERE to tune in live.