Source: Family / Family
This is such a sad story and we truly hope that this family squeezes every nickel and dime out of the department and the officers involved.
Brianna Grier’s mother feared for her daughter’s life as she suffered a mental health crisis in July of 2022. She called the police because she had no other resources with which to help her child. Sadly, that phone call would bring Mary Grier’s fears into reality. According to a Fox5Atlanta report, Mary Grier says that two unnamed Hancock County Sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene and carried Brianna away “like a dog” with handcuffs on her wrists and ankles. Brianna begged the officers for a breathalyzer test to prove that she isn’t intoxicated and that she was not a threat to them.
Body camera footage reveals that less than one minute into the ride, the deputies stopped their patrol vehicle and walked back several yards to find Brianna laying on the ground. The brain injury that she suffered from hitting her head left her in a coma for 6 days before the mother of twin 4-year-old daughters passed away.
“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 represents the family.
Crump and attorney Eric Hertz have filed a $100 million lawsuit against the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office for “gross negligence” in securing Brianna into the police vehicle safely. The GBI investigated the incident and District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale decided not to bring the case to a grand jury for potential prosecution.
“What happened that particular night is an extreme tragedy and something that I understand that people are upset about,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “Based off of my legal opinion after speaking with the GBI and after reviewing the case file, there are no criminal acts that were perpetrated by those deputies the night Ms. Grier lost her life.”
How the hell did a woman who was rendered completely helpless make her way out of a moving police car if there was absolutely zero negligence? Make it make sense.
